An Indian foreign worker was killed on Sunday afternoon, after the excavator he was in was hit by a falling tree.

The incident took place at about 3pm on a construction site along Thomson Road, and personnel from the Singapore Civil Defence Force needed about two hours to extricate his body from the wreckage.

Colleagues said the victim was clearing the area around the tree when the incident happened. One of the workers estimated the fallen tree to be about 20m in length.