The Downtown Line tragedy

[image by Matthew Wong of Home Team News]

Update: At 2359hrs this Fri­day, 27th July, Tran­sient Work­ers Count Too (TWC2) will stop col­lect­ing dona­tions for the vic­tims of last week’s Down­town Line con­struc­tion site accident.

If dona­tions marked “Bugis MRT acci­dent” are still received after the dead­line, the orga­ni­za­tion will email the donor ask­ing whether he/she would like a refund or if the dona­tion should be put towards the organization’s gen­eral fund. Refunds will be made promptly.

If how­ever the dona­tion is received after the dead­line marked “Bugis MRT acci­dent” but with­out con­tact infor­ma­tion, there will be no way to pose that ques­tion, and the dona­tion will be accepted into the organization’s gen­eral fund.

Response has been awesome and it is gratifying to know that people care.

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On July 18, 2012, the underground scaffolding at Downtown Line's Bugis MRT worksite collapsed, killing two workers and injuring eight.

The scaffolding collapsed when the two workers were pouring wet concrete into a mould and they were buried alive by cement.

SCDF personnel (seen above) spent nine hours looking for the two missing Chinese nationals.

Saddened by this tragic event, a few of us bloggers scrambled to see if we could to help provide an avenue for public donations. We approached various government ministries and agencies to see if they could help. In the end, a non-profit organisation that helps low-wage migrant workers, Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), stepped forward very quickly.

TWC2 will help collect and disburse the donations. They have the experience and infrastructure in place to make this happen, so Miyagi, Adri and I would like to direct our readers to them.

The money you donate will go towards the families of the two deceased workers, as well as to the injured workers who are unable to work while they recover.

Often under-appreciated, low-wage migrant workers built this city-state. In this time of tragedy, let's give back.

This is how you can donate:

BY CHEQUE:

Make a crossed cheque payable to: ‘Tran­sient Work­ers Count Too’, write your name and “Bugis MRT Acci­dent” at the back of the cheque and mail it to: 5001 Beach Road, #06–27 Golden Mile Com­plex, Sin­ga­pore 199588.

Send an email to [email protected] with your name, cheque no., amount and “Bugis MRT Acci­dent”, so that the dona­tion can be prop­erly recorded and a receipt sent to you.

BY SGGIVES (ONLINE)

You can donate using your credit card here. A small com­mis­sion is charged by this dona­tion col­lec­tion agency. Under the “Spe­cial Occa­sion / Per­son” field, type “Bugis MRT Accident”.

BY PAYPAL (ONLINE)

You can use your PayPal account or credit card to donate here (scroll down and click the PayPal button). How­ever, a com­mis­sion of 4% or so is charged on every dona­tion. There is no field for you to input the pur­pose of dona­tion, so it is advis­able to drop twc2 an email after you’ve donated by this method.