'I want to help': Foreign workers rescued driver from Tanjong Katong Road 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.

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 madam was inside the car. I was thinking, 'somebody has dropped inside, I want to help'," said Mr Subbiah, who recounted the rescue to reporters at an interview on July 27 near the scene of the incident.

He gave instructions to three other workers to toss the woman some rope so 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.

"One of my workers wanted to go down and help her, but I said they (won't be able to) climb out. So I told them to throw (her) the rope first," he said.

The sinkhole had formed at around 5.50pm on July 26, according to national water agency PUB. It caused two lanes of the road to collapse, just adjacent to a PUB worksite. Residents had earlier told reporters that there was a burst water pipe at the same area the night before the sinkhole appeared.

The sinkhole later filled with water, but it was dry when workers rescued the driver.

Mr Subbiah said he and his colleagues acted on instinct to save the woman, which was why they moved quickly.

"Someone had fallen in. We were just determined to save her as fast as possible. That was the goal," said Mr Subbiah in Tamil.

The Tamil Nadu native has been working in Singapore for 22 years, and this is the first time he has been involved in such a rescue effort.

He added that they asked the woman if there was anyone else in the car after they pulled her out, and she replied saying her IC and phone were inside. Mr Subbiah handed her his phone so she could call her daughter.

"We saved a life… whatever happened, that is all that matters," he told the media in Tamil.

Footage on social media also showed other workers quickly placing barricades next to the sinkhole.

The driver was later taken to hospital by the Singapore Civil Defence Force.

PUB said in a July 27 statement on Facebook that the woman is able to walk and undergoing further medical checks.

On July 27, Mountbatten MP Gho Sze Kee, who visited the site in the morning, said the woman is in hospital for observation and that she has been experiencing muscular pain.