One of the two workers seriously injured when an uncompleted highway structure collapsed in the wee hours yesterday was impaled through his hip by a reinforcing bar.
The Straits Times understands that he was still in surgery yesterday evening at Changi General Hospital (CGH) and had been warded in the intensive care unit (ICU) along with another worker, whose injuries were unknown.
Both were hurt when an incomplete road viaduct linking the Tampines Expressway to the Pan-Island Expressway collapsed, leaving 10 injured and one dead. All 10 were taken to CGH, with seven admitted and three discharged after receiving treatment, said a CGH spokesman.
The affected workers came from Bangladesh, China and India, and were aged between 22 and 49.
The worker who died was identified as Chinese national Chen Yinchuan, 31. He had arrived in Singapore to work just three months ago, in April. ST understands that the two men in the ICU are Bangladeshi worker Alam Shah and Chinese worker Gao Liqin, whose right hip was impaled.
The affected workers were employed by three different companies. These companies were sub- contractors on the worksite, said Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, chairman of the Migrant Workers' Centre, which had a team at the hospital to assist the workers.
Mr Yeo said that all three employers had provided the necessary guarantees to CGH to bear the treatment costs for their workers, or were in the process of doing so.
The employer of the dead worker was also making plans with the Chinese Embassy here to facilitate repatriation arrangements.
Yesterday afternoon, Minister of State for Manpower Sam Tan and Senior Minister of State for Transport Lam Pin Min visited the injured workers at CGH.
Dr Lam later said in a Facebook post that the Transport Ministry was in touch with the workers' families and would provide the necessary assistance.
Yesterday's incident brought the number of reported worksite fatalities to 20 this year. There were 66 fatalities last year.
Correction note: An earlier version of this story gave the wrong name of the worker who died. This has been corrected. We are sorry for the error.
