Workers at Aljunied evacuated after World War II relic found
Construction workers digging for a pipe near Aljunied MRT station found a war relic, believed to be from World War II.
The workers were conducting excavation works at 60 Lorong 23 Geylang at 9.15am yesterday when they made the discovery.
Mr Li Shi Wei, 32, a worker who was in the construction site at the time, told The New Paper that there were about 40 workers who had to be evacuated.
"The workers were digging for a pipe and did not realise what it was at first," he said. "They tried lifting it and said it was about 10kg before calling the safety officer who then called the police."
An eight-storey building meant for light industrial work was being built at the site. The project, D'Innova, is expected to be completed by this year.
Mr Li added that the workers all evacuated the site quickly and forgot to take their lunches.
Mr Roslan Abdul Ghani, 58, a driver who worked in a nearby building, said he was told by a police officer to evacuate at 11.30am yesterday. "The officer said there was a bomb found at the construction site and told me to get my 20 or so colleagues to evacuate," he said. "It took less than five minutes, and some colleagues didn't even ask me what was going on. They were just happy to leave the office. Some of them decided to go home."
Mr Alan Loon, 69, a general worker at Hong Soon Hardware just across the site, said the staff in the building evacuated at 10.45am.
"We saw the construction workers running out and were told to evacuate also, but we didn't run out like them," he said.
"Some of us are so old already, so we don't really have anything to fear."
The street and surrounding area were cordoned off till about 1.20pm yesterday, after which only the construction site remained cordoned off.
Construction works at the site were halted for the day.
Personnel from the Singapore Armed Forces' Explosive Ordnance Disposal team were at the scene but left after the street cordon was removed.
TNP understands that the relic was not live and a commercial disposal service has been engaged to facilitate its removal.
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