SINGAPORE - The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) conducted a complex 1½-hour operation to extricate a male foreign worker who got trapped in a freak accident on Saturday (Jan 30) afternoon.

According to Chinese newspaper Shin Min Daily News, the worker - a 28-year-old Indian national - had been directing an excavator at a worksite in Yishun when the ground beneath them gave way.

The worker fell into a 3m-deep trench and was trapped when the excavator also toppled partially into the trench.

SCDF said it was alerted to the incident at the junction of Yishun Ave 1 and Ave 4 at around 3.30pm.

It dispatched an ambulance, a fire engine, a red rhino and two support vehicles to the scene.

A crane had to be deployed to lift up the toppled excavator and set it down at a safe spot, before rescue personnel armed with shovels proceeded to free him.

The worker had been half-submerged in the soil, SCDF added.

The unstable ground and the need to ensure that the excavator did not fall on the worker meant that the entire rescue operation took about 1½ hours.

SCDF said the worker did not suffer any injuries and was conscious throughout the operation. He was subsequently sent to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital as a precaution.