I'm not sure if everyone is aware of this, but a couple of days back as I was making my way home after my JC class gathering, many commuters and I had to evacuate Dhoby Ghaut MRT station because of a fire on the NEL side of the station. To be fair, I didn't exactly witness the fire blazing away, but there was a distinct stench unique only to to smoke from fire. So, unless the SMRT/SBSTransit staff were making seventh-month offerings in the station, I think it'd be fair to deduce that a fire had broken out then. Then, there was the PA announcement urging commuters to evcautate the station. I mean, smell of smoke + announcement to evacuate station + SCDF's fire trucks outside the station should = fire breakout at station. Well...I suppose you could say it was a fire drill, but I don't think fire drills usually involve the simulation of smoke.

On a sidenote, the funny thing was that even as the announcement was being made, I could still see some commuters behind me making their way down the escalator to the NEL. This just makes me marvel at the intrepidity of Singaporeans - even fire is no deterrent to their getting home punctually.

Now, how does all this relate to the title of this post? Well...I was kind of expecting The Straits Times to report the incident the next day, but to my disbelief, it went unreported. I know this incident is trivial when juxtaposed with broader global issues like the Middle East crisis now, but surely, this incident merits at least a tiny mention in the Home section of the ST, especially when it comes hot on the heels of another accident on the NEL the day before. Is the ST really that understaffed that they can't even cover this incident, or could it be some other reason? Hmmm...

Just an interesting observation, there doesn't seem to be much adverse reaction with SBSTransit's stock despite the recent accident.

(After note: A friend just informed me that one of the Chinese newspapers had reported the above incident; it's good to know that at least someone in the mainstream media is earning his keep.)