'I felt like giving up': Driver who fell into Tanjong Katong sinkhole reveals ordeal

After her car plunged into a sinkhole that appeared in Tanjong Katong last July, Pearlyn Lim found herself hanging upside down with her legs pinned as debris fell around her. 

In an interview with Christian publication Salt&Light, the 43-year-old recalled her brush with death and how she "felt like giving up" for a split second. 

Thinking she might never see her loved ones again, Lim felt more "overwhelming sadness" than fear, she said. 

As she was trapped inside the vehicle, Lim's thoughts fixated on just one thing: Her then-13-year-old daughter, Anya.

Lim said: "I remember crying out, 'Please, God, don’t leave my daughter alone in this world.'"

"At that moment, I really, really missed Anya," she added. "I was very thankful that the last thing I’d said to her was, 'love you.' And that I’d hugged her before I left the house."

Upside down, stuck and in shock

On July 26, 2025, a sinkhole suddenly appeared around 5pm at the junction of Tanjong Katong Road and Mountbatten Road. 

Videos of the incident which went viral on social media showed a car, a black Mazda hatchback, lodged in the waterlogged hole that had formed next to a PUB worksite. 

In the interview with Salt&Light, Lim recalled that she had gone to visit her childhood friend who had given birth at Thomson Medical Centre that day and was on her way home after dropping off some friends when the incident happened.

She was about to turn left at the junction when she felt a bounce in the road and saw the tarmac floor give way. 

Before she knew it, her car had landed upside down in a three-metre-deep hole with debris raining down around her, Lim told the publication. Water was also gushing into the vehicle from the cracked windshield.

With one foot pinned under the pedal and another under the driver's seat, she recalled that there was "a split second when I felt like giving up".

Thinking of her precious daughter, Lim found the strength to pull herself free from the wreckage in the dark. She was thankful that the car door was not blocked by debris, allowing her to open it and crawl out of the car.

Amidst the chaos, she heard a solitary voice from behind — a migrant worker calmly calling out to her.

He was laying flat on his stomach, nearly half of his body leaning into the sinkhole, Lim remembered. He quickly assessed the situation and directed a safe path for her to get closer to the edge of the sinkhole.

"Grabbing hold of my hand, he pulled me up. I was incredibly thankful to him," she said.

When she turned back to look at her car after being rescued, it was already submerged.

"Had I been in the sinkhole a few more minutes, I would have drowned," Lim told Salt&Light.

Using a phone borrowed from a migrant worker, she immediately called her daughter, and the two reassured each other. 

Lim was taken to Raffles Hospital, where mother and daughter were reunited.

As Anya helped clean the dirt off her mother with wet wipes, she told her, "By the way, you are famous now. The news is calling you the sinkhole woman." 

"We laughed and cried together," said Lim.

A note which Anya had written to her while on the way to the hospital still sits on Lim's kitchen table. 

Managing her anxiety

Following the incident, Lim has been in therapy and taking medication, including anti-anxiety pills and anti-depressants, reported Salt&Light. 

Day-to-day events such as cracks in the walls or ground, thunderstorms, or being underground during car rides, would trigger waves of anxiety. However, Lim intends to continue facing her fears head on, to overcome them.

Although she is still on the road to recovery, she recently returned to work at a French advertising agency last week.

Lim told the publication that there are days she's overcome with exhaustion and wants to simply stay in bed. However, her friends, family and therapists have been a great support in helping her talk through her fears and reminding her she is not alone. 

She maintains that she harbours no bitterness as to why the incident happened to her.

'This is your God giving you your break'

A few months before the incident, Lim revealed that she had been struggling mentally, spiritually and emotionally, especially after losing a friend to illness. 

"My whole life started flashing before me. I just didn't know how to live my life anymore," Lim told Salt&Light. 

She shared her troubles with a friend, who felt that Lim needed a break.

After the incident, Lim's friend, who's not Christian, visited her while she was on MC and told her: "This is your God giving you your break."

Lim said in the interview that her faith has played a huge role in her healing journey. 

While she had initially turned down all media interview requests after the incident, she said she chose to share her story now, six months later, to "give glory to Him".

[[nid:720647]]

esther.lam@asiaone.com