SINGAPORE - Polytechnic student Chelsey Chow, 19, was in a state of panic on Monday (Jan 25) after discovering that she had left her laptop in a bus.

The laptop had contained her work for four presentations and five projects.

Luckily for her, she got the laptop back, thanks to bus captain Ramasamy Krishnan, 52.

Ms Chow was so grateful that she wrote about the incident on her Facebook page on Tuesday (Jan 26) and even posted a picture she took with Mr Ramasamy. The post has gone viral, with more than 2,660 shares as of 3.45pm on Thursday (Jan 28).

Mr Ramasamy has also received more than 10 Facebook messages from people praising him, including one from Malaysia.

The bus driver of nearly seven years was driving the bus 61 route from Bukit Batok to Eunos on Monday night when he noticed a passenger behaving suspiciously.

The bus was largely empty after most passengers had alighted at either Ngee Ann Poly or the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) headquarters.

Mr Ramasamy said: "Suddenly one person came from the back and went close to the front seat. From my driver's position, I saw that he took something from the seat.

"I thought it could have been a valuable thing that somebody left behind."

Just as the man was about to alight, Mr Ramasamy told him that he could not take something that was not his. Mr Ramasamy told him to leave it with him, for him to submit to his Duty Master instead.

The man was at first reluctant to do so, and handed over the laptop only after Mr Ramasamy hinted that it could become a police case.

Meanwhile, Ms Chow had noticed that her laptop was missing and rushed down to Eunos Interchange in search of it.

At Eunos Interchange, Mr Ramasamy saw Ms Chow and her boyfriend and returned the laptop to her after verifying that it was hers.

In the Facebook post, Ms Chow said: "I want to thank Mr Ramasamy for his alertness that was beyond his call of duty. Through the mere 10 minutes of interaction with him, his heart to serve was apparent."

Mr Ramasamy, who recognised Ms Chow as a regular on his route, said: "When I'm driving the bus, I like everything to be perfect. I care about my passengers and I care about my bus."

SMRT spokesman Patrick Nathan said he hopes that Mr Ramasamy's actions will "inspire his colleagues to look out for their passengers as they would for their own family and friends".