Woman found dead on LRT track in Punggol had fallen accidentally: Coroner

SINGAPORE: A 33-year-old woman who was found dead on an LRT train track in Punggol last year had fallen accidentally and died after being run over by a train, a coroner’s court has found.
In his written findings made available on Monday (Aug 12), State Coroner Adam Nakhoda said Madam Wong Soon Heng’s death was the result of an accidental fall.
He found no evidence that she had any intention to take her own life and said that her fall was “simply a tragic accident”.
Madam Wong, a Malaysian and Singapore permanent resident, was married to her husband, named only as Mr LM in court documents.
They had a son together, who was about a year old when Mdm Wong died.
At the time of her death on Mar 23, 2023, Mdm Wong was slightly over a week into her new job as a senior accounting executive with an accounting firm.
The director of the company noted that she was hardworking, punctual and a fast worker, and he had not yet assigned her much work as she had just joined.
Mdm Wong’s husband said his wife was looking forward to collecting her new laptop from work, so that she could start working from home.
He said he knew she had a dinner with her colleagues at a restaurant on the night of Mar 23, 2023. The couple exchanged WhatsApp messages throughout that day.
After work, Mdm Wong and her colleagues went for a farewell dinner meant for another colleague who had resigned.
She was observed to be happy, with two of her colleagues saying she drank between one and three glasses of wine. She then collected her laptop from the office and headed home, texting her husband about gaming achievements on her mobile phone game.
Based on closed-circuit television footage, Mdm Wong took an LRT train on the Punggol line and alighted at Cove LRT station with other passengers.
However, instead of turning right to descend the stairs and exit the station, she was seen walking across the platform towards the other side.
As she reached the middle of the platform, her walking pace steadily increased until she appeared to be running towards the gap between the fixed glass barriers.
She ran through the gap and fell onto the LRT track, hitting her head.
Some passengers saw Mdm Wong fall and she was largely still as she laid on the track. An oncoming train that arrived about 18 seconds later ran over Mdm Wong.
A witness who had taken the train with Mdm Wong recalled how he had alighted and begun walking down the stairs when he heard “a yelp and a thud sound”.
He thought someone had dropped a suitcase and did not hear anyone asking for help, but he returned to the platform out of curiosity and saw Mdm Wong lying on the track.
Before he could react, an oncoming train ran over Mdm Wong and the witness called the police.
When paramedics arrived at the scene, they saw that Mdm Wong had sustained fatal injuries and pronounced her dead.
Investigations revealed that a passenger had used the intercom at Cove LRT to inform the SBS Operations and Command Centre that someone had fallen onto the track. 
The centre immediately pressed their emergency button to cease train operations at Cove LRT, but Mdm Wong had already been run over by that time.
An autopsy determined the cause of death to be multiple injuries, including several fractured ribs.
The concentration of ethanol in Mdm Wong’s blood – possibly from consuming alcohol – was low, and it would not have caused or contributed to her death.
The LRT trains were unmanned and automated, controlled by SBS’ operations and command control. SBS officers would enter trains only if there was a fault.
While the LRT train was able to detect another train in front of it to prevent a collision, the trains did not detect debris or objects on the track, the court heard.
Mdm Wong’s mother and husband said she had never expressed the intention to self-harm or take her own life. They said they had open and communicative relationships with her, and she would have told them if she intended to take her own life.
Records showed Mdm Wong did not suffer from any significant chronic medical condition or mental illnesses. The coroner also found no evidence to support a finding that she was anaemic or had experienced fainting or dizzy spells when menstruating.
State Coroner Adam Nakhoda said it was clear from the evidence of Mdm Wong’s family, and former and current colleagues that she did not exhibit any mental health issues.
She was described as a happy, stress-free and open woman, with a strong and loving relationship with her husband and no significant marital or parental conflicts.
She was said to be a “very positive person and a generally nice person to everybody” by a colleague, and had left her previous job for better pay and more flexible work arrangements, and not because she was disgruntled.
Mdm Wong and her husband also did not have financial issues.
The coroner found it was unlikely that Mdm Wong was intoxicated and incapable of walking normally that day.
However, he said her movement was “unusual” after she exited the LRT train. Instead of turning right to walk down the stairs from the platform to the gantry level, she continued to walk across the platform to the side for trains going in the opposite direction.
“Her pace began to increase as she was walking, she was leaning forward, and she did not slow down at all as she moved towards the gap between the fixed glass barriers,” said the coroner.
He said it appeared that Mdm Wong’s leaning forward may have caused a forward momentum, resulting in her pace increasing.
While he added it was not possible to determine why Mdm Wong ended up walking and then running towards the gap, it was clear no one had pushed her or caused her to move in that manner.
She had likely been stunned by the hard impact of her head hitting the track, and there was insufficient time for other people to react and assist her as the oncoming train was about 18 seconds away.
The coroner conveyed his condolences to Mdm Wong’s family on their loss.