President Tharman meets migrant workers who saved driver of car that fell into sinkhole

Straits Times

4 days ago

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President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and wife Ms Jane Ittogi (centre) taking a group photo with the construction workers involved in the Tanjong Katong sinkhole rescue at the National Day Istana open house on Aug 3.
SINGAPORE - The workers who saved a woman from a
sinkhole on Tanjong Katong Road South said they were glad to have helped a family get their loved one home safely.
Speaking to the media at the Istana on Aug 3, construction site foreman Pitchai Udaiyappan Subbiah said that the successful rescue of a life was the most rewarding thing from incident.
'Because of us, a family is safe and happy (which) makes us very glad,' Mr Subbiah, 46, said in Tamil. 'The recognition we have gotten is more than enough.'
Mr Subbiah and six other men had pulled the woman, a driver of a black car that had fallen into the sinkhole, out using a nylon rope.
The car the woman was driving had tumbled in at about 5pm on July 26, when a sinkhole formed at the junction of Tanjong Katong Road and Mountbatten Road, near the One Amber condominium.
The seven workers were invited by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam to the Istana's National Day open house on Aug 3.
Chatting with the workers outside his office, Mr Tharman was overheard saying: 'You saved her life, thank you.'
Mr Tharman and Mrs Jane Ittogi Shanmugaratnam also met 11 men involved in a rescue during a fire at a River Valley shophouse in April. Using scaffolding from a nearby construction site, the workers had rescued children who were stranded on a third-story ledge due to the blaze.
Mr Subbiah was among thousands of people who explored the Istana grounds during the open house to celebrate the nation's 60th birthday. The slight rain in the middle of the day did not stop visitors from strolling the wooded landscape and enjoying its expansive lawns.
Among the activities that were on offer were face painting, inclusive sports like seated volleyball, as well as other arts and crafts. There were about 12,000 visitors as of 12pm.
Mr Subbiah, who has worked in Singapore for 22 years, said he was happy to explore the Istana as he had, till now, only seen it from the outside.
He previously saw Mr Tharman in 2005 at a community event in Teban Gardens, but was happy to meet the President as his invited guest.
Another of the seven, excavator operator Sathapillai Rajendran, told reporters he hopes more people will step forward to help others in times of need.
'I'm just very happy she is okay,' said the 56-year-old.
Mr Tharman wished the workers well, and thanked them for their heroic acts. After the interaction, each of the workers received a memento of their visit to the Istana.
The memento – a pen bearing the Presidential Crest – is typically given to guests of the President as a keepsake for them to remember their visit, said the President's Office.
Mr Pitchai Udaiyappan Subbiah (centre, in green), a construction site foreman who rescued a driver who fell inside the Tanjong Katong sinkhole, with his colleagues at the the Istana open house on Aug 3.
ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
Following the sinkhole incident, migrant worker support organisation ItsRainingRaincoats launched a fundraiser for the workers involved in the rescue. It received more than $72,000 in public donations, which it will divide among the workers.
The organisation said it will hold a small gathering at its Henderson Road premises on Aug 10 to honour the workers, and to announce the disbursement of the funds raised to their bank accounts.
ItsRainingRaincoats had previously raised funds for the men who saved the children from the River Valley fire. Each of the 15 workers received around $3,770 of the $57,660 collected.