7 migrant workers, who saved woman from Tanjong Katong sinkhole, gifted appreciation coins

Seven migrant workers, who rescued a woman from the Tanjong Katong sinkhole, have been presented with appreciation coins.

Pitchai Udaiyappan Subbiah, Velmurugan, Saravanan, Veerasekar, Ajithkumar, Chandrisekaran, and Rajendran were each given an "MOM Appreciation Coin", or ACE coins, for their heroic efforts.

Presented coins at dormitory

In a Jul. 28 Facebook post, Minister of State for Manpower Dinesh Vasu Dash shared that he presented the coins to them during a visit to their dormitory after their shifts.

Some of them had just returned from working overtime, but he managed to to speak to all seven that night.

Dinesh called the coins "a small token of appreciation that goes a long way in appreciating our efforts for our migrant brothers".

All of them, he added, had stepped forward to support the woman in "a situation that would otherwise have been very different".

"When [the incident] happened, some of our migrant brothers reacted very quickly to move forward, stop the traffic for further incidences to take place, and they rescued the lady who was in the car.

I think this is a very good example of how our migrant workers help society in general."

Workers praised

Videos previously surfaced online of the workers' rescue efforts.

When the sinkhole opened on Jul. 26 at about 5pm, site foreman Subbiah heard the noise and rushed over.

He saw the car had plunged into the hole, and the woman had managed to escape the car.

He and a number of other migrant workers tossed down a nylon rope and managed to pull the woman up.

She was subsequently conveyed to hospital.

The migrant worker, who has worked in Singapore for 22 years, said it was the first time he had experienced something like this.

"Scared, but must rescue her out," he said of his effort.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force subsequently announced that it would reach out to the workers to commend them.

Fundraiser for workers

Migrant worker welfare charity ItsRainingRaincoats separately said in a Jul. 28 statement that it intends to run a fundraising campaign for the workers.

It was responding to comments on social media, urging the authorities to reward the workers for their bravery.

"While we don’t control those decisions, the least we can do is run a fundraising campaign for them," it said.

The charity added that it "salutes the bravery of migrant worker Pitchai Subbiah and his team".

"Their quick-thinking and considerate actions are very representative of the courage and selflessness we have seen from other migrant workers over the years."

Mothership has reached out to ItsRainingRaincoats for more information about this fundraiser.

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Top image from Dinesh Vasu Dash/Facebook and by Mothership