Deceased found on MRT tracks is 31-year-old man; no foul play suspected: Police

SINGAPORE — A man who was run over by a train and later found dead near Kallang MRT Station on Thursday (Feb 25) night was 31 years old, and the police are investigating the unnatural death. 

Based on preliminary investigations, no foul play is suspected, the police said in a press statement on Friday morning.

MRT services along the East-West Line were disrupted on Thursday evening between the Bugis and Aljunied stops, after a train captain with rail operator SMRT reported hitting an object near Kallang MRT Station at about 9pm. The Lavender and Kallang stations were later shut. 

SMRT said in a Facebook update early on Friday that its station manager was deployed to the tracks and found a motionless man about 150m from Kallang MRT Station.

The police and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) were alerted to the incident at about 9.35pm. An SCDF paramedic pronounced the man dead at the scene.

SMRT said that the body was found on the east-bound track near the station. No other details are known about the man. 

It is also unclear how he could have gained access to the track. The Straits Times reported that the man may have gone into the east-bound tunnel from a portal area, which is where the train tracks enter the underground tunnel, at Lavender.

SMRT said that it was saddened by the man’s death. “We convey our deepest condolences to the family.” 

The rail operator deployed more than 80 staff members to help commuters affected by the train service disruption. 

The tracks were cleared to run at about 4.50am on Friday.

In a Facebook post on Friday, Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung said that SMRT is working closely with the police in investigations, and so “there is a limit to what can be said publicly”.

In the past, there had been occasional incidents of people going onto the tracks from station platforms, he said.

“That is why we have the platform screen doors for above-ground stations as well as underground ones now.”

Outside train stations, tracks are on a viaduct, underground or fenced up if they are on ground level.

“In the meantime, SMRT is supporting the train captain and station manager who, while shaken by the incident, were calm and collected, and handled the emergency situation well,” he added.