xiaoqiang says: Below is a coverage of the news of the Nicoll Highway incident. for those who are overseas might want to have a share of the news. Still, it's sad to hear such thing happened. it seems to me like human self-destruction as most know that there's no natural calamities in singapore.

+ One dead, three hurt, three missing
+ Thousands of commuters hit
+ Highway will stay closed for months

A MASSIVE collapse of a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) construction site yesterday afternoon wrecked a stretch of Nicoll Highway, which will now be closed for many months. The mid-afternoon accident near the Merdeka Bridge killed one construction worker and injured three others. Three men were missing and feared dead.

By last night it appeared that the accident occurred after a temporary supporting wall for a tunnel of the MRT's Circle Line collapsed. There might have been more casualties, except that most of the site workers were having their tea break when the tragedy happened.
While completion of the Circle Line now looks likely to be delayed, thousands of commuters must now use alternative routes into and out of the city, and put up with congestion for several months while the highway is repaired.

The volume of traffic disrupted is unprecedented, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said.
Everything happened very quickly yesterday afternoon. Thai construction worker Vehakul Somchia, 28, was bringing tools down to the site at about 3.30pm when he saw a crane and wall collapse. He dumped his tools and ran. "I just knew that I must get off this bridge or I would fall in and die," he said. "When the crane sank into the ground there was a man inside." Within minutes, the surrounding area caved in, leaving a gaping ravine 30m deep strewn with twisted steel beams, rubble, cranes and excavators.

Motorists ground to a halt in time, as a 100m stretch of the highway collapsed. Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng arrived at the scene and assured the public: "There is no indication that this is foul play." Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong, who came in the late afternoon, said the surrounding buildings were safe, and the top priority now was the search and rescue operations, involving some 75 firefighters and rescue dogs. The body of a Malaysian crane operator in his 40s, Mr Vadivil Nadason, was brought out at 6.15pm, while search teams worked on to find three others believed to have been driving machinery at the bottom of the site when the wall came down. Three others were injured and taken to hospital. Two were later discharged from Tan Tock Seng Hospital - an Indian national, 25, and a Singaporean, 47, both with leg injuries. A Thai worker, 21, with head injuries is still at the Singapore General Hospital.

Even as curious onlookers crowded the area, police cordoned off Merdeka Bridge and sealed all roads leading to Nicoll Highway. The impact of the accident was felt far and wide. As Nicoll Highway sank, gas, water and electricity cables snapped, causing power to go out for about 15,000 people and 700 businesses in the Marina and Suntec area. Tenants and residents in the Golden Mile Complex, near the collapsed stretch, were also evacuated. Several callers to The Straits Times said they heard an explosion, while others reported blackouts. Though some eyewitnesses said they saw flames flash across Nicoll Highway, the LTA said it had no evidence of an explosion.

When leaking gas was detected, Power Gas shut off the supply to the pipe, said Mr Rajan Krishnan, LTA's director of projects, at a news conference last night. The loud sound of the collapsing wall 'might have sounded like an explosion', he said. Electricity was restored at 3.50pm. The huge boom which sounded at 3.30pm sent many office workers scurrying to their windows, to be stunned by what they saw. From his 18th-floor office at Golden Mile Tower, Mr Vincent Chan, 28, said he heard a loud sound 'like a huge aircraft approaching the building'. Rushing to the window, he saw a ball of fire on the far side of Nicoll Highway.
"Then the steel reinforcements lying horizontally across the road started to fall into the hole one by one, like dominoes," he said. Others ran out of their buildings for safety.

Ms Sirirat, 48, a permanent resident from Thailand, was sewing in her shop on the first floor of the Golden Mile Complex when she heard a loud bang. "I saw many women running out of their shops," she said. "They said: 'Gas explosion! Run for your life." So I followed them. I thought it was a bomb.' Speaking to reporters yesterday, the Transport Minister said the LTA would now stabilise the ground and ensure the buildings in the area remained secure. "Tunnelling has been going on for many years but this has never happened before,' he said. "LTA will do its utmost to repair the damage and the rest of the Circle Line project will continue." The LTA said it could be six to nine months before Nicoll Highway might be opened again.