One year ago, SMRT trainees Nasrulhudin Najumudin and Muhammad Asyraf Ahmad Buhari died in Singapore's worst rail accident when a train hit them shortly after they stepped onto the rail tracks. Seow Bei Yi speaks to their families and friends on how they are coping.

For the first 100 days after her son died in a fatal train accident near Pasir Ris MRT station last year, Madam Rosma would visit his grave at the Muslim cemetery in Lim Chu Kang - daily.

On Monday, the housewife, 54, braved the rain to do so again with flowers in her arms and prayers on her lips.

It was her son's birthday. Mr Muhammad Asyraf Ahmad Buhari would have turned 25.

"I just want to be with him for a while," said Madam Rosma, opening up to the media for the first time since the accident on March 22 last year. She declined to give her full name.

"I needed to be there - when he left us, I was not in Singapore," she told The Straits Times, her voice thick with emotion.

Mr Asyraf was one of two SMRT trainees who died after a train crashed into them. They were in a team sent to the tracks to check on an apparent fault. The other was Mr Nasrulhudin Najumudin, 26.

Madam Rosma and her family were in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, for a pilgrimage when the accident happened. They rushed back after hearing the news.

"Whatever I am doing, I keep thinking about him," said the mother of four. "I did not dare to touch most of his belongings," she added, saying that her family members were the ones who tidied them after Mr Asyraf's death.

"I am not able to do it as yet; it is still so fresh," she said.

Last week, marking the anniversary of the accident on the Muslim calendar, her family conducted prayers with their close friends and relatives for Mr Asyraf and Mr Nasrulhudin.

Looking back, Madam Rosma said she was reminded of her second son's kindness and sincerity on the day of his funeral last year.

"A lady came up to me and told me, 'You don't know me, but when I met with an accident, your son got down from his motorbike to render help'," she recalled with pride.

Madam Rosma said she is also comforted by the regular calls and visits from her son's close friends.

"They come by our home, and that is a way (for me to remember him). They also tell me stories of how they spent their time together," she added.

But trying to move on, her biggest wish is that such an accident will not happen again.

"I do hope that SMRT will ensure such a thing will never happen again to anyone else, not to anyone else's child," she said.