Photo of random South Asian woman posted on SMRT's X account, removed after 10 min, left people confused

A photo of an unidentified South Asian woman was posted on the X (formerly Twitter) account of SMRT on Jul. 27 night, to the surprise and confusion of internet users.

The photo appeared to be a selfie taken by the woman in ethnic wear.

An accompanying caption simply said "R".

It was posted on X at about 11:08pm on Sunday night, as noted by The Straits Times.

The post has since been removed, but screenshots of it have since been widely circulated on Reddit and other social sites.

ST reported that the post was deleted after about 10 minutes, but garnered more than 2,000 views and over 20 reposts in that short time.

This is higher than the account's usual engagement rate.

In response to Mothership's queries, SMRT's group chief communications officer Margaret Teo said the corporation was aware of the "unauthorised post".

"We have reported the incident to X and are currently investigating this matter", Teo added.

SMRT's X account, which has more than 471,000 followers, typically posts updates on train services and disruptions.

The deviation from its usual serious tone bemused online users, who took to social media to talk about it.

"SMRT serving face," an X user who reposted the post captioned, slang for delivering a confident, eye-catching look.

Many also questioned if SMRT's X account had been hacked.

"No this is just their new Employee Profile showcase," another user joked on Reddit.

Top images via cookiesnjam/Reddit & SMRT/X