Challenge

From beneath the tangled steel and rubble of the collapsed Nicoll Highway emerged a valiant team of rescuers from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF). The elite Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (DART), of which two sections of men were led by Captain (Cpt) Ong Chee Wee, searched tirelessly for four missing victims. They laboured in treacherous conditions to bring hope to the victims' loved ones as the whole nation looked on.

It was 3.35 pm on 20 April 2004 when the lights in Suntec City flickered for a moment before the whole building plunged into darkness.

Bemused shoppers and staff looked up at the lights, as if expecting them to come on again. Little did they know that a scene of utter devastation and chaos was unfolding nearby.

The MRT Circle Line construction site along Nicoll Highway had caved in, causing a 200-metre section of the highway to collapse.

The steel supports over the MRT tunnel became twisted and mangled. A crane tilted and hung precariously over the abyss that opened up, only to be consumed a while later. Fortunately, there were no vehicles on the highway at that time.

The first SCDF responders from Central Fire Station arrived within six minutes of activation and were greeted by a chaotic sight. The chasm which resulted from the collapse was 30 metres deep and 15,000 square metres in area. It was a mangled mass of steel, I-beams, concrete slabs and earth.

The rescuers immediately conducted a search to locate casualties. Personnel from the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and PowerGas arrived shortly at the site to assist in the operation. Upon their arrival, the PowerGas personnel immediately shut off the gas mains, thereby plugging the leakage from a broken underground pipe near Golden Mile Complex. Search dogs and specialist equipment were also swiftly brought in.

SCDF's DART unit and Special Rescue Battalion geared up for a long and arduous rescue operation

"In our line of duty, we must be ready for anything. So that when something happens, we can do the job well."

Cpt Ong related what he saw: "When we first arrived, water was flooding the site. The LTA engineers had to use sandbags to stop the flow.

"There was scaffolding, I-beams, concrete slabs on top of a lorry and some containers, and steel bars were here and there. It was quite a sight."

As the first 24 hours were the most critical, the 30 DART officers who were deployed at the site worked continuously. Subsequently, they worked in shifts.

Their mission was a gruelling and dangerous one that required clear thinking and close teamwork. They had to find out the total number of missing persons and try to locate them. They also had to plan how to retrieve the bodies safely.

Describing the dangers, Cpt Ong said: "We didn't know how deep the water was and whether the surrounding areas would collapse."

Despite the difficult conditions, care was taken at all times to ensure the safety of SCDF rescuers and that the victims' bodies remained intact when extricated from the rubble.

National honours
The nine SCDF officers who received the Medal of Valour were:

•	Major Kadir Maideen Bin Mohamed
•	Major Alan Toh
•	Captain Ong Chee Wee
•	Lieutenant Chew Keng Tok
•	Lieutenant Mohamed Nazim Bin Kudin
•	Staff Sergeant Jaais Bin Sol
•	Staff Sergeant Muhammad Hairul Nazwa Bin Dol
•	Sergeant Anuar Bin Ahmad
•	Sergeant Ahmad Faizal Bin Abdul Hanan

Other SCDF officers who were highly commended:

•	SCDF Commissioner James Tan received the Public Administration Medal (Gold) for displaying steadfast leadership and tirelessly directing the rescue efforts
•	Lieutenant Colonel Eric Yap Wee Teck received the Public Administration Medal (Bronze)
•	Seventeen other officers received commendation medals

Cpt Ong said: "No manual equipment was used in this operation although cutting through the rubble would have been faster for us. But we felt that recovering the bodies intact was the least we could do for the next-of-kin, since we couldn't bring the victims back alive."

By touching and feeling their way around, the team managed to locate and extricate the first victim's body from under a collapsed container on the evening of 20 April. Following that, there was a landslide in the area.

Nonetheless, the search continued. The second and third victims' bodies, which were totally submerged in the water, were retrieved over the next two days.

On the fourth day, there was a turn of events. There was heavy rain which made the site increasingly unstable. So as not to risk the rescuers' lives and compromise the stability of the buildings around the site, a decision was made to call off the search for the fourth and last victim.

Said Cpt Ong about the Nicoll Highway incident: "You can say it was the greatest challenge I had faced because the whole nation was watching what we were doing. Also, it was a prolonged operation and we had to keep ourselves going for a few days."

It was a strong sense of duty as well as compassion for the affected families that drove the team to overcome the dangers and difficulties of the operation.

Cpt Ong said: "As the days went by, the hope of finding live victims diminished. I could understand how the next-of-kin felt. On my part, I tried to relieve their pain. We hoped to find the victims alive. But when we couldn't, we wanted to find the bodies so that the next-of-kin would have peace of mind."

For their dedication and courageous efforts, Cpt Ong and eight other SCDF officers were presented the Medal of Valour by the President of Singapore on National Day 2004.