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Synopsis :

This edition of Morning Digest focuses on the collapse of Hotel New World in Singapore on 15 March 1986. The six-storey building at the junction of Serangoon Road and Owen Road rapidly disintegrated at about 11.25 in the morning. This report on the fourth day after the collapse notes that rescue operations are still going on. Seven survivors were rescued the previous day making the day's operations the most successful to date.  A three-pronged tunnelling strategy has helped to rescue survivors. Many of them were from the industrial and commercial bank on the ground floor and this is an indication that there might be more missing persons in the lower part of the building. The 1400 personnel involved in the rescue operations cannot use risky or fast methods. Otherwise they would jeopardise the safety of the survivors and their own safety. The public can call a designated telephone number with their suggestions. A Mass Rapid Transit engineer at the site says that the rescuers have heard a tapping sound in the bank manager's room and a woman and a man are alive in the storeroom. The rescue team is changing the direction of the tunnels to get to them. A reporter at the site describes a rescue operation he witnessed. Besides the rescuers, an executive group is coordinating the operations. The group includes two Permanent Secretaries in the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Commissioner of Police amongst others. Director of Operations at the Ministry of Home Affairs Lim Siam Kim explains how the group makes and implements decisions. They meet regularly with the people in the operational command to discuss problems and decide on certain lines of action. Their decision is implemented by the command and control group which reports to the Minister. This executive group was formed after the 1974 Laju ferry hijack.