Best Reward for Tanjong Katong Sinkhole Rescuers

Those involved, and men in River Valley fire rescue, invited to Istana open house

- Syarafana Shafeeq

The workers who saved a woman from a sinkhole in 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 the 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 received is more than enough."

Mr Subbiah and six other men had pulled out the woman, the driver of a car that had fallen into the sinkhole, 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 South and Mountbatten Road, near the One Amber condominium.

The seven workers and their project manager, all of whom work for Ohin Construction, were invited by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam to the Istana's National Day open house on Aug 3.