Ong Ye Kung on Kallang MRT station incident: What can be said publicly limited as investigations are ongoing

He expressed condolences to the loved ones of the deceased.

Zhangxin Zheng | February 26, 2021, 03:07 PM

A 31-year-old man died on the train track near Kallang MRT station last night (Feb. 25).

SMRT confirmed that the man was run over by a train.

He was pronounced dead on scene by an SCDF paramedic.

Ong Ye Kung: SMRT will update when more details are available

In response to the incident, Minister for Transport Ong Ye Kung said that he was informed of the "distressing news" last night and expressed condolences to the loved ones of the deceased.

He added that while he understands that members of the public have questions, investigations are ongoing and therefore, there is a limit to what can be revealed.

"I know the public have questions. SMRT is working closely with the police in investigations, so there is a limit to what can be said publicly," Ong said.

Ong said that some safety features at the MRT stations have been added after "a time when there were occasional incidents of people going onto the tracks from station platforms".

These include platform screen doors as well as placing tracks on the viaduct, underground or if at grade, fenced up.

Ong said that SMRT is providing support to the train captain and station manager who handled the emergency situation well despite feeling shaken by what happened.

SMRT will update with more details when they are available.

More about last night's Kallang station incident

The incident last night has also caused train services along the East-West Line to be disrupted.

There were no train services from Bugis station to Aljunied station at around 10:40pm.

Kallang station was shuttered and commuters were evacuated from the affected train and the station.

Bus bridging services were also activated to ensure affected commuters could still get to their destinations safely.

Based on preliminary investigations, foul play is not suspected, the police said.

Investigations into the death are ongoing.

Top image via Ong Ye Kung/Facebook and photo by Jane Zhang