Worker dies after falling from rooftop of Bedok HDB block

SINGAPORE - An Indian national working on the rooftop of a Housing Board block in Bedok fell to his death on Thursday (March 31), just days before he was due to return to his home country.

Police said it received a call about the incident at 9.18am. Officers found the 29-year-old lying motionless along Jalan Damai.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said that the victim suffered from "traumatic arrest" - his heart had ceased to beat due to a sudden and hard impact.

He was unconscious when he was taken to Changi General Hospital, where he subsequently died, police said.

Workers' Party MP Pritam Singh, who is chairman of the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council , said on his Facebook page that the worker of the town council's plumbing contractor had fallen from Block 662, Jalan Damai. The HDB block is at least 10 storeys high.

The town council will be meeting all contractors for a safety briefing and discussion, he said.

The MP for Aljunied GRC wrote: "Every death is one too many, and the Town Council will review with its contractors how safety standards can be better enforced and to see how such tragic incidents can be prevented."

He added that the worker was due to leave for home in four days.

"It broke my heart to discover that the worker was due to leave for home in four days time, and was, in the words of his boss, a 'good boy'. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones," Mr Singh said.

The Ministry of Manpower said its officers responded to the scene immediately and began investigations.

The employer of the worker has been instructed to stop all work at height activities within the estate while investigations are ongoing, the ministry said.

This is the second reported case of the death of a worker in the town council this year.

In January, a cleaner died after being caught in a trash compactor.

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