Worker dies in hotel construction
He and four others were lowering cable when mishap occurred
Five construction workers were lowering a cable down 10 storeys when they felt a sudden tug that knocked them off their feet.
Four of them quickly got back up, but one of them did not. The cable had coiled around his neck, strangling him.
He died later in hospital.
The New Paper understands the incident happened at about 2.40pm last Tuesday at a construction site along Peck Seah Street near Tanjong Pagar.
A Ministry of Manpower (MOM) spokesman told TNP that the victim and his four colleagues were standing in a straight line as they lowered the electrical cable down a riser - a vertical shaft that runs through multiple floors of a building.
The victim, an Indian national, was the closest to the riser door.
It is believed they were lowering the cable to the third storey, where two other workers were stationed to receive it.
But a sudden, sharp pull caused the five workers to lose hold of the cable and their footing, said the MOM spokesman.
He added four of them got back up but found the victim lying on the floor with the cable around his neck.
TNP understands the workers were on the 13th storey when the accident happened.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it received a call for assistance at about 3.20pm and dispatched an ambulance to the scene. Its officers performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the unconscious man and used an automated external defibrillator on him.
A police spokesman said a 32-year-old man was taken to the Singapore General Hospital, where he died from his injuries.
INVESTIGATIONS
The MOM spokesman said officers from its Occupational Safety and Health Inspectorate began investigations immediately.
The occupier - construction company Woh Hup - was told to stop all work involving the laying of cables, added the MOM spokesman.
When TNP visited the site last Wednesday afternoon, workers were seen milling outside the construction site, which belongs to the upcoming Oasia Downtown Hotel.
Workers told TNP they were told to stop work at about 4.30pm last Tuesday following the accident.
A Woh Hup spokesman told TNP yesterday that investigations were ongoing and declined to comment further.
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