PIE fatal accident: Second migrant worker dies from injuries

SINGAPORE — A second migrant worker who was involved in Tuesday’s accident on the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) has died from his injuries, the Migrant Workers’ Centre (MWC) said on Friday (April 23).

The man has been identified as Sugunan Sudheeshmon, 28, from Kerala, India, by non-profit group ItsRainingRaincoats.

A spokesperson for the migrant worker advocacy group said one of its counsellors has spoken to his mother, a domestic helper in Singapore, who is devastated and in grief.

“She visited the son last night in hospital, but he passed away later last night,” the spokesperson said.

His mother, already grappling with an earlier death in the family this month, will be accompanying the dead body home to India on Saturday.

Sugunan leaves behind a one-year-old son and his widow.

The accident, which happened around 6am that morning near the Jalan Bahar exit, involved a stationary tipper truck and a lorry ferrying 17 workers in its cargo deck. 

Tofazzal Hossain, 33, who was from Bangladesh, succumbed to his injuries that day while the other workers, including the latest fatality, were sent to National University Hospital and Ng Teng Fong General Hospital for treatment.

Nine workers were discharged on the same day of the accident and seven were hospitalised with two placed in the intensive care unit (ICU).

MWC, a non-governmental organisation and welfare group that supports foreign workers, said: “We are in contact with his mother, who is also working in Singapore, to extend our assistance and deepest condolences to her and the family.

“We will also be working with the employer to furnish the documentation and claims needed to file for the Work Injury Compensation Act compensation.”

The lorry driver, 36, has been arrested for careless driving causing death.

The accident has led to calls for improved safety features for lorry passengers, as well as for the practice of ferrying workers with lorries to be banned entirely.

Giving another update in its Facebook post, the MWC said that one worker has been discharged, and another one has been moved out of the intensive care unit and into the hospital's high dependency unit.

Four workers are still recovering in the hospital ward, said the MWC.

“The MWC was able to speak with all of them to see how they are coping and send them our well-wishes. The workers shared with us that the company has spoken to them and assured them that they would be taken care of,” said the centre.

People who would like to donate to the affected workers or contribute towards the cause of supporting needy or distressed migrant workers in general can do so via www.giving.sg/mwaf, the MWC added. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY DARYL CHOO