On 26 July 2025, 43-year-old Ms Pearlyn Lim was driving home after dropping off friends when she encountered a sudden disaster along Tanjong Katong Road South. Stopping at a junction, she saw a migrant worker holding a “stop sign” and followed the instructions. Moments later, she felt an “odd bounce” in the road and heard people shouting “stop, stop!”. Her black Mazda then fell into a sinkhole that had opened up, with Ms Lim inside the car.
Trapped and Alone
Ms Lim described the experience as “surreal,” feeling as though she might be dreaming as the car sank upside-down about three metres below the surface. Water poured in through cracks in the windscreen and debris continued to fall around her. She used the torch on her phone to see inside the dark hole and managed to unbuckle her seatbelt. Her feet were stuck under the pedal and seat, leaving her briefly “in shock.”
Thinking of Her Daughter
For a moment, Ms Lim felt like giving up, but she thought of her 13-year-old daughter, Anya, which gave her the strength to keep going. She said, “I was very thankful that the last thing I’d said to her was, ‘I love you.’ And that I’d hugged her before I left the house.”
Rescue
A migrant worker calmly guided her through the debris, lying partially in the hole and telling her to climb towards him. He reached out and pulled her to safety, and Ms Lim later said, “I was incredibly thankful to him.” Videos circulated online showing several people helping to pull her out. After the rescue, she borrowed a worker’s phone to call her daughter. When they reunited in the hospital, Anya hugged her and handed her a note, laughing and crying together.
Recovery
Since the incident, Ms Lim has been in therapy and taking medication for anxiety and depression. She has learned to cope with triggers related to the accident and recently returned to work. She credits her Christian faith and support from family and friends for helping her recover, saying the experience, though terrifying, gave her a pause during a very difficult time.
