(UPDATE – 10:07 a.m., November 15, 2017) The northbound service of the MRT3 line from the Ayala Station and running parallel to Epifanio de los Santos Avenue ground to a halt at past 2:30 p.m. Tuesday when a woman fell into the track as the train was getting underway.
Pasay City resident Angeline Fernando, 24 years old, a Senior Quality Engineer at iScale Solutions, an IT company based in Makati, apparently was overcome by a sudden dizzy spell, lost her balance after disembarking at the platform, and fell, suffering a severed right arm when it got rolled over in the process.
But DOTr Undersecretary for Rails Cesar Chavez, in an update, said Fernando’s arm had been “reconnected to her body; the bone, the nerve and vessels are reconnected” by early Wednesday morning.
Angeline remained conscious and was assisted to get up from the tracks to the platform, where an emergency response team applied first aid and rushed her to nearby Makati Medical Center.
According to Raffy Robles, MRT Ayala Station Supervisor, Angeline appeared to be moving unsteadily before falling off the edge of the platform.
Chavez, who said he was with Fernando’s parents Jose Jr. and Gloria at the MMC “since 2:30 a.m.,” said they had been informed by Angeline’s attending physician of the successful operation to reconnect her arm at 3:46 a.m.
“She is under observation at least until Friday,” he added.
Chavez, who vowed to “personally supervise this,” also said he “spoke to Angeline, in the presence of a senior nurse and Angeline’s friend, inside the operating briefly at 5 a.m. Told her, “Hindi ka namin pababayaan. Hindi ka namin iiwanan (We won’t leave you alone. We won’t abandon you).”
He said he assured Fernando’s parents “that our office will extend financial assistance and will request financial assistance from other government agencies.”
Chavez quoted Fernando’s mother and friend as saying she is prone to dizzy spells in crowds, sometimes going out of church because she would have difficulty breathing and, one time, needing to be rushed to the MMC when she almost fainted while strolling at Greenbelt.
“Angeline was an SM Foundation scholar at the Asia Pacific College, where she finished Bachelor of Science in Information Technology” and is a software engineer, Chavez said.
The accident caused a temporary halt to the operation of the northbound line for about an hour and 20 minutes.
