Workers used rope to rescue driver of car that fell into sinkhole

Construction site foreman Pitchai Udaiyappan Subbiah and his colleagues were at a PUB worksite near the One Amber condominium when they heard a loud sound on the evening of July 26.

- Shabana Begum

They rushed out of the worksite to see a sinkhole in the middle of Tanjong Katong Road South and a black car that had fallen in.

To his surprise, he saw a woman coming out of the car.

"There was one car, and one woman was inside the car. I was thinking, somebody (fell) inside, I want to help," said Mr Subbiah, who recounted the rescue to reporters in an interview on July 27 near the scene of the incident.

He gave instructions to three other workers to toss the woman a nylon rope so that they could pull her out.

In all, the rescue effort took around three to five minutes, said Mr Subbiah, 46, who works for Ohin Construction, which was working on a sewerage project in the area.