Clementi landslide: Close call for warehouse worker cycling home
Warehouse worker Lim Thiam Chye, who got off work at 1am on Friday (Sept 2), was cycling home from his Toh Guan workplace to Clementi when he noticed that the path along the Ulu Pandan Park Connector was in darkness.
Two migrant workers he met then told him that just minutes earlier, a landslide the size of a football field had broken the path he would have been on.
It uprooted trees and street lamps, affected part of a Build-To-Order construction site and connected the two sides of the canal with displaced soil.
"If I left work 15 minutes earlier, I wouldn't be standing here, I could have died," the 56-year-old said in Mandarin.
Mr Lim was one of several residents, cyclists and joggers that The Straits Times spoke to after arriving at the scene at 9am.
Most expressed shock at the scale of the landslide and concern for the safety of park connector users.
Mr Tay Wei Min, 41, who lives in Block 208B Clementi Avenue 6, next to the Clementi NorthArc construction site, said he found out about the landslide on Facebook.
"From the photo, it looks quite scary and dangerous," said the human resource executive, adding that many residents used the flight of stairs close to the landslide as it is the most direct way to get to the park connector.
"I'll still jog there but I'll keep a lookout to see whether there is any movement in the soil," he said. "I'll pay more attention now. If not, I'll jog on the other side instead."
The authorities have said that checks showed the buildings in the immediate vicinity remain structurally sound. One passer-by sustained minor injuries and was attended to at the site.
The site drew a small but steady stream of people taking photos. Many of them walked up to the top of a small slope to fit the entire landslide site in frame.
A staff member from Chiu Teng Construction said he was at the site to figure out how best to bring an excavator in to clear the obstruction in the river. "Even the trees slid down about 30m," he added.
The firm has been appointed to carry out repair works.
The landslide uprooted three trees and moved three street lamps to where the water's edge used to be.
Otters, monitor lizards and water birds were seen exploring the blocked part of the canal.
A little after noon, those at the site watched with interest as an excavator poured concrete onto a portion of the landslide site, a move a construction worker said was to prevent the soil from collapsing further.
Mr Baven Chin, 53, a frequent cyclist in the area, said it was fortunate that the landslide occurred in the early hours and not later in the morning, when more people are around.
"You don't want to be the one that got swiped away when this collapsed," said the management consultant.
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