Over 250 take part in largest anti-terror drill at MRT station

"Terrorists" struck Raffles Place MRT station and took people "hostage" on Wednesday morning, in a simulated attack featuring two emergency scenarios and involving more than 250 personnel.

- Nadine Chua and Christine Tan Yu Jia

As police officers yelled at one of the "assailants" to drop his knife, the man unzipped his jacket to reveal an even deadlier weapon - a "bomb" strapped to his chest.

This was one of the scenarios in Exercise Ferrovia, a counter-terrorism exercise where the authorities showed how they deal with such attacks.

Ferrovia means "railroad" in Italian and the exercise was organised by the Singapore Police Force (SPF).

More than 250 personnel from the police, Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), Land Transport Authority (LTA) and SMRT Trains took part. This made it the largest anti-terror exercise at an MRT station, said an SPF spokesman.

During the exercise after midnight on Wednesday, journalists saw how the usually serene station turned chaotic. It started with people screaming and running up the escalators, fleeing from "terrorists" on the station platform.

The four assailants had arrived at Raffles Place via train from Marina South Pier MRT station.