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By Verena Lim
Commuters have called for MRT platform gaps to be narrowed after a woman fell and was trapped knee-deep in the gap between the train and the platform at Bugis Station.
The young woman, believed to be a Vietnamese national, was boarding the east-bound train with friends when she lost her footing and fell between the gap on June 1 at about 5.30pm.
Previous news reports stated that the gap between the trains and platforms vary at different stations, from 7cm to 10cm.
Commuters have asked for it to be narrowed to less than 1cm.
Mr Rosman Jani, 48, a technician, witnessed the incident and contributed images of the trapped woman to citizen-journalism website Stomp yesterday.
The posting has been viewed 20,624 times and has garnered 58 comments as of last night.
He said the station was very crowded and he was walking towards the escalator when he heard people screaming.
"I turned around and saw the woman with her leg stuck in the gap and quickly shouted at the passengers in the train to press the emergency button so that the train would not move," Mr Rosman told my paper.
"Everyone was panicking and did not dare to touch her in case she was seriously injured. I held her hand and told her to relax because she was crying non-stop," he added.
The train stalled for about 15 minutes before a member of the public helped to pull the woman's leg out. An SMRT spokesman said that the woman declined medical help before she boarded the next train.
This is not the first incident of a person falling into the gap at an MRT platform.
Last October, a 23-year-old woman's leg got trapped at Toa Payoh Station. She was eventually freed unhurt.
Ms Hazel Koh, 22, a banking executive who takes the MRT to work every morning, feels that more can be done to ensure safety during peak periods.
"Passengers are not conscious of the gap when the trains or waiting areas are extremely crowded, so it's easy to fall in. A bigger sign to alert passengers should be pasted on the floor, or more SMRT staff stationed to regulate the crowd," she said.
Lawyer Eric Tan, 26, suggested that the authorities "should look into building future MRT stations with smaller platform gaps. At least one that can't fit someone's whole foot in so it reduces the chances of falling in".
verenal@sph.com.sg
Woman's leg gets caught between train and MRT platform
Click on thumbnail to view (Photos: Stomp) |
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