8.45am at any given train station is quite crowded.

And as with most crowds, there will be some jostling and pushing.

This particular incident at 8.45am was somewhat worse.

Into the gap

According to an eyewitness, the incident occured at 8.45am at Buona Vista.

Brandon Wong recounted the events prior to the incident.

"The train was full to the brim and passengers were rushing to get out of the train. The lady was pushed and she fell. Her right leg got caught in the gap and was stuck from the knee downwards."

It appears to have been caused by the mad morning rush.

Wong quickly sprung to action even though him not being a certified first responder limited what he could do.

"Unfortunately, I am not a certified first responder. All I could do was help to calm the poor lady down and help to lift her leg out of the gap together with the other SMRT service staff."

However, Wong felt some aspects of the rescue was well below par.

Here were some of the problems he had with the rescue.

Onlookers

"Firstly, to all other passengers on the train, don’t just stand around taking photographs and videos when someone is need of dire help. I had to shout "Press the emergency button!" 3 times before another passenger activated the emergency stop button. Those precious seconds could have determined life or death. Don’t make “tsk” noises to voice your displeasure at the situation. You’re going to be 10 mins late to work? Big deal. Think about it, a woman could have lost her life. To the other commuters on the platform, don’t just stand there ogling at the scene. Make way for any first responders to help, make way for the SMRT service staff rushing down to assist the lady, make way for the injured party when a safe space is required. I am ashamed to admit I myself should have done more, I am ashamed to admit I should have been more prepared for situations like these. Had all of us at the scene been more considerate and prepared, the lady would have been put more at ease and felt more secure."

Wong also clarified why he took the photos.

SMRT staff

In Wong's opinion, the staff took a tad too long, especially when they first talked about calling an ambulance.

"The emergency response time also has to be improved. The lady’s leg got caught at 8:45am, the first SMRT staff on the scene arrived 45 seconds later, the second one more than a minute later. I understand that the morning crowd at Buona Vista can get pretty unmanageable, but there has to be more urgency. Furthermore, any talk of an ambulance wasn’t even initiated until more than 10 mins later. In my view, that’s far too slow."

He also took aim at a SMRT staff who apparently asked the lady to move her leg with a raised voice.

To which the lady rightfully answered as such:

"I can’t it’s too painful!."

The lady was eventually extracted.

Wong also gave a shout out to a young man who had arrived about 11 minutes after the incident.

"Also, here’s a big shout out to the certified first responder (and all other first responders) who was a medical student that just happened to be at Buona Vista and arrived on the scene 11 mins later, at 8:56am. The young gentleman was professional and immediately allayed her fears."

Here's his full post:

Gaps

Wong also made sure to highlight that while the staff was incredibly helpful, helpfulness does not equate to training.

"To all commuters, don’t prioritise your personal gratification but instead, do your part to help out anyone in need of emergency help. To SMRT, there needs to be more first aid training immediately. I am not trying to vilify your organisation, I just wish there would be no more incidents like these. Your staff were wonderfully helpful but were obviously not trained for such situations. To the poor lady who was caught, I hope you feel much better and have not sustained any serious injuries."

It is however essential to note that SMRT staff do appear to have quite a bit of training in regards to emergencies such as this.

Getting stuck in the platform gap is not a completely novel incident either, with 5 cases of that nature being reported in 2015.

While there didn't appear to be any official updates on any delay, there was a tweet that mentioned a slight delay around that timing near Buona Vista.

@SMRT_Singapore problems in the yellow line approaching buona vista, or unlucky train ride? — 𝚁𝚞𝚒 𝙱𝚊𝚕𝚝𝚊𝚣𝚊𝚛 (@rpbaltazar) April 8, 2019

Gap fillers have been introduced in some stations to reduce the gap, according to a 2017 article, design on platform screen doors on the two oldest lines made it impossible to install it.

Here is SMRT's statement in response to queries by Mothership.

"Today at around 8.45am, a female commuter had a leg trapped in the gap between the platform and the train at Buona Vista MRT station on the Circle Line. The emergency stop feature located at the platform was immediately activated. Our station staff and other commuters went to her assistance and freed her leg. An ambulance subsequently conveyed her to a hospital. Our care team is reaching out to her and we hope she recovers quickly. As a result of the incident, train service was delayed for around 10 minutes. Commuters were informed of the service delay via in-train and station announcements."

Image from Wikimedia and Wong's Facebook