Man arrested for attempted suicide at MRT station

By Alicia Wong | SingaporeScene – Sat, Apr 16, 2011 1:12 PM SGT

A man in his mid-30s has been arrested for attempted suicide at Sembawang MRT Station on Friday night.
The police and Singapore Civil Defence Force said they received a call at about 11.35 pm on Friday, informing them a man had fallen onto the train tracks at Sembawang MRT station.

"Upon police arrival, a man in his mid-30s was conveyed to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital and subsequently arrested for attempted suicide," said a police spokesperson.

The man, who had been hit by the train, complained of back pain.

About 1,500 passengers were affected during the incident, said an SMRT spokesperson.

"To maintain service on the unaffected stretches of the North-South line during the incident, all southbound trains were turned around at Woodlands MRT Station and some northbound trains were turned around at Yishun MRT Station," she said.

Bus bridging services were also deployed to ferry passengers from Woodlands to Yishun MRT station.

Commuters again took to micro-blogging site Twitter to send out alerts on the incident late on Friday.

Johny Loy (@johnyloy) tweeted, "Accident @sembawang mrt, SMRT faster complete your barrier doors please!!!"

Dynna Syafiqa (@dynna06) tweeted, "Chaos over at Sembawang MRT station."

Terence Lee, editor for online website New Nation, said he went to the MRT station at about 12.20am after seeing tweets on the incident. Lee said he saw a police vehicle and policemen at the station and that a section had been cordoned off on the train platform.

Passengers who were unable to complete their journey due to the disruption can claim a full fare refund from the Passenger Service Centre in any SMRT station within the next three working days.

SMRT is assisting the police in its investigations.

Earlier this month, a Thai teenage girl lost both her legs after she fell onto the tracks at the Ang Mo Kio MRT station and was hit by a train.