SMRT has shined a little more light on what exactly happened this morning when two of their staff were killed in an accident along the tracks near Pasir Ris Station.
In response to media queries, SMRT corp confirmed that the deceased were two Singaporean men — 26-year-old Nasrulhudin Najumidin and 24-year-old Muhammad Asyraf Ahmad Buhari. They had just joined the company in January, and according to SMRT, were “undergoing on-the-job training at the time of the accident”.
The two had been part of a technical team that were investigating a reported alarm from a “condition monitoring device for signalling equipment” said SMRT Trains Managing Director Lee Ling Wee. With folks demanding to know why the two had been on the tracks while train services were running, he assured that their access to the track had indeed been authorised by SMRT.
“Initial findings indicate that before the accident happened, the team was moving in a single file on the walkway beside the track, on the way to the location of the signalling equipment,” said Lee in an official statement.
The Straits Times reports that the two were part of a five-man tech team, and had been walking on the left track. Asyraf and Nasrulhudin had crossed over to the right track when a train knocked into them — a third technician who was with them managed to escape in the nick of time.
“We are deeply saddened by the deaths of our two staff,” Lee commented. “Our first priority is their families and are doing all we can at this time of grief.”
After a two-and-a-half hour suspension of services, trains resumed running between Tanah Merah and Pasir Ris MRT stations in both directions at 1.56pm. Officers from the Singapore Civil Defence Force and the Singapore Police Force were on site at Pasir Ris MRT station to render assistance and conduct investigations.
