Lentor workplace deaths: Victims were young dads

To improve the lives of his family, Mr Salim Hossain had been toiling hard in Singapore so they could move out of their cramped living conditions in Bangladesh.

The construction worker earned enough to pay for work to begin on their new home in the village area in the capital Dhaka.

But even before a single brick could be laid, the 39-year-old Bangladeshi national died in a workplace accident at Lentor Avenue on Sept 17.

At the North-South Corridor construction site, Mr Hossain was one of four workers assembling a winch drum.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) had said the winch was resting on two concrete blocks.

But the winch, which is typically used in the lifting of heavy materials, slid off the blocks and struck the men.

Mr Hossain was pronounced dead at the scene by a Singapore Civil Defence Force paramedic.

One of his colleagues, a 38-year-old site engineer, was unconscious and rushed to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, where he died. The Singaporean permanent resident had a four-year-old son.

The other two workers, aged 32 and 47, suffered minor injuries.

On Sept 20, Mr Hossain’s cousin, Mr Nazrul Islam Biltu, 33, told The Straits Times that Mr Hossain’s body will arrive in Dhaka on Sept 21.

Mr Islam, who works in Singapore as an excavator operator, said Mr Hossain’s children - a seven-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl - face an uncertain future.

He said: “It’s very heartbreaking. For the last two or three years, he had been saving money to build the new home for his children.

“He spent his whole life trying to support his family, but until now he could not even build a house for them.

“No bricks have been laid for the new house, only the boundary has been built.”

Mr Islam said Mr Hossain had been working in Singapore for about 15 years, and spent the last eight months working for VSL Singapore.

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) had said the four workers were employed by VSL Singapore, the local subsidiary of Swiss specialist contractor VSL.

The main contractor of the Lentor Avenue worksite is South Korean firm Ssangyong Engineering and Construction.

On the day of the accident which happened at around 1.20pm, Mr Islam had been working in a tunnel on Jurong Island where there was no phone reception.

When he surfaced at around 7pm, he had several missed calls.

Mr Islam cannot recall who he first learned about his cousin’s death from.

He said: “I could not believe it. I told my supervisor I lost something, I lost my heart, I lost my ‘brother’.”

Mr Islam remained in denial about Mr Hossain’s death until the following day when he went to the mortuary to see the body.

Describing his cousin as a cheerful person, Mr Islam said: “If I don’t call him for a long time, he would call me and ask me if I had forgotten him.

“Because I’m the younger ‘brother’, I’m supposed to call him, but he does not have any ego.”

According to past media reports, at least 11 people have died in workplace accidents here in 2024 so far.

In comparison, 36 workers died from workplace accidents in Singapore in 2023, 46 in 2022, 37 in 2021, 30 in 2020 and 39 in 2019.

Following the recent accident, MOM said heavy machinery or structures must be secured in a stable manner to reduce the risk of slipping or toppling.