As if delays on two separate train lines weren’t troubling enough for commuters, some had to contend with injuries sustained from a collision on tracks.
It was Facebook user Mei Anne who first shared the alarming account at 8:26am today that two SMRT trains bumped into each other at Joo Koon MRT station, knocking around commuters inside the carriages. According to Mei, she and her fellow passengers fell on their backs as a result of the collision.
In her own words: damn, SMRT.
She also posted a close-up shot of parts of the trains that collided, but we can’t discern any noticeable damage.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) has since confirmed the incident, noting that it was alerted to the situation at the MRT station at 8:33am. A total of 23 injured passengers were conveyed to hospitals — although the majority of them sustained only minor injuries, that means at least a couple of them sustained slightly more serious injuries due to the train collision. Damn, SMRT.
Not long after, Land Transport Authority (LTA) put out a statement to clarify what exactly happened. At 8:18am, a train heading westwards in the direction of Tuas Link station stalled at Joo Koon station. A minute later, a second train stopped behind the first one — but it moved forward unexpectedly, causing the collision.
The statement also added another two casualties to the list. According to LTA, two SMRT staff were injured in the accident and have been taken to the hospital as well. All casualties from the incident sustained light to moderate injuries, and they were conveyed conscious to the National University Hospital and Ng Teng Fong General Hospital.
I was in the 1st wagon on that train. SMRT call it “train fault” while one train still on the station our train colided.. i’ve seen people enjured.. even smrt stuff got hand enjury. We waited 20 min to open doors. One perso was with head and back enjury transported to ambulance pic.twitter.com/t1jMXrP7HH
— Alexandru (@easypropertysg) November 15, 2017
For now, we await Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan’s own statement on SMRT’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
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