If not for the statement by the LTA and SBS Transit, we would still be be blissfully believing that alarming report that 2 LRT trains crashed on Monday (3 Jul).
You know, because SPH has gone on a quest to “educate” the public on how to read the right thing and discern real news from fake news.
And, you know, because Law and Home Affairs Minister has declared war on the publishers of fake news and expects new legislation to be drawn up at the end of this year to fight that plague.
Unfortunately, it seems that SPH didn’t heed its own “say no to fake news” war cry.
Yesterday, for at least 8 hours, The Straits Times carried a news report on how 2 LRT trains “collided” on along the Sengkang Line.
It got the report from supposed “citizen journalism” portal, Stomp, which is also run by SPH.
The report was pretty detailed, and would have fooled and frightened many commuters.
It read:
“A Light Rail Transit (LRT) train reportedly collided with the train in front of it along the Sengkang Line at 7:08pm yesterday, according to citizen journalism site Stomp. A female passenger, going by the name Hong, told Stomp that the LRT she was on stopped abruptly to reduce the impact of the collision.
She added that several passengers who had not been holding on to the grab bars or handles fell down due to the impact. “One woman fell on me and I quickly held her to stop her from falling,” she said. “Thankfully, no one was hurt.” After the collision, the two trains remained stuck for about 15 minutes – both the lights and air-conditioning were switched off during this period.
After 15 minutes, the trains began to move slowly towards Renjong station. All passengers were able to disembark safely, according to Stomp. The Singapore Civil Defence Force told The Straits Times that its assistance was not required. The Straits Times has contacted the Land Transport Authority for more details.”
The LTA and SBS Transit have called that report utter nonsense (in a much gentler manner, of course).
In it’s new report, The Straits Times says:
“An incident on the Sengkang LRT system on Monday evening was due to a pair of train-cars suddenly stalling and not a collision of the cars, said operator SBS Transit and regulator Land Transport Authority (LTA).
The sudden stalling of the train-cars, which were coupled together, may have caused passengers who were not holding on to any grab bars or standing poles to lose their balance, SBS and LTA added.
This “may have given the wrong impression that the trailing train-car had hit the one in front”, they said in a joint statement yesterday.”
But, alamak, what happens if ST got it wrong again?
Still, like WP’s Ah Low, we like to give the benefit of the doubt.
