User:Hamstersanonymous/Sandbox

Works in progress and drafts here. Feel free to drop comments in discussion or fix minor errors, but no major changes please. (collaborators exempted) Thanks.

=Nicoll Highway collapse=



At approximately 3.30 pm on 20 April 2004, a road section along the Nicoll Highway in Singapore collapsed suddenly, killing 4 people and injuring another 3.

The collapse happened at a construction site of the underground Circle MRT Line. The supporting structure for the deep excavation work failed, resulting in a 30-metre deep cave-in that spread across six lanes of Nicoll Highway.

The Victims

 * Vadivil s/o Nadeson, crane operator A Malaysian of Indian descent, his body was the first to be recovered. The 44-year-old had reportedly tried to escape by jumping out from his crane when the incident struck. He was found caught between a pick-up truck and a container.


 * Liu Rong Quan, construction worker The body of the 36-year-old Chinese national from Jiangsu province was found wedged between the wheel and chassis of a 10-tonne truck. Liu had started working at the site just ten days before the incident. He leaves behind a wife and daughter.


 * John Tan Lock Yong, Land Transport Authority engineer The third victim to be found, Tan was due to finish his contract with LTA at the end of this year and was planning to migrate to Australia or New Zealand then. He leaves behind his wife, a grown-up daughter and a son.


 * Heng Yeow Peow, foreman The body of the 40-year-old Singaporean was not recovered. According to survivor accounts, Heng had selflessly hurried his workers to safety but was himself trapped when the collapse occurred. Heng leaves behind his wife, two young children, his 70-year-old mother and nine siblings.

Cause of the Incident
The reason behind the collapse was attrributed to the failure of the strut-waler support system, which held the diaphragm walls for in place.

TODO
 * expand on causes and criminal liability found by COI

useful refs:
 * http://www.mom.gov.sg/NR/rdonlyres/B8FF53FC-C249-4E7D-9C58-27D2D7323FF7/2016/Report_CapExecutiveSummary.pdf
 * http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/147451/1/.html
 * http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/140199/1/.html