Man dies after excavator overturns at Novena Ville
[Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified the the victim's details.]
The male driver of an excavator that toppled at a construction site in Novena Ville Thursday morning has died.
He has been identified by his cousin as 59-year-old Loh Chin Lam (previously identified as Loh Chin Nam, 60), a Singaporean who had been driving excavators for 40 years.
The deceased was married with children, according to the cousin, Loh Chin Seng.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) was alerted to the incident along Thomson Road at around 9:20 am Thursday.
A spokesperson said that, upon arrival, SCDF personnel saw that an excavator was “half-buried” and “toppled to the left with the driver inside the cabin”.
The driver's body, which had been "pinned" under a concrete slab, has been extricated.
A crane was used to stabilise the toppled excavator, after which another excavator was brought in to retrieve the body.
Lieutenant-Colonel (LTC) Daniel Seet, Commander 1st CD Division for SCDF, explained that the excavator went over a hollow void at the building site that was being torn down. " alt="" class=" editorial" src="http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/news/2013-06-06/018d9ff7-ba58-441e-beca-29683780e2f5_LTC-Daniel-Seet.JPG" align="middle" width="630">
Lieutenant-Colonel (LTC) Daniel Seet, Commander 1st CD Division for SCDF, explained that the excavator went over a hollow void at the building site that was being torn down.
“It had caved in together with debris, and the driver’s cabin of the excavator had been pressed against a reinforced concrete beam. That made the situation very dangerous and difficult for an immediate rescue effort,” said Seet. “We had to use another vehicle to anchor the excavator that had caved in, to render it safe and immobile before rescuers could go in.”
The construction is for the development of Novena Regency, a freehold commercial and residential building.
Describing the deceased as someone who "takes care of his children very well", his cousin Chin Seng then said: "People in construction need to be alert."
-- With reporting by Winifred Wong
