My strongest theory on this topic is that Tyr, seemingly the head research physicist or something, accidently created a wormhole while testing a new gravity generator, which the protagonist got pulled into.
It's mentioned that a bunch of high priority maintenance orders went out to prepare the power system for a big surge which would be indicative of the huge amount of energy needed to kick start that kind of gravity generator.
Additionally, some descriptions of the events following that test include:
- erratic pulses of gravity which threw people and objects around, due to a malfunction in the gravity generator;
- widespread power failures, probably due to the massive power drawn by the experimental gravity generator or the chaos caused by the gravity changes;
- and even large hull breaches, likely caused by those erratic gravity pulses putting undue stress on it.
All of these would line up with a gravity generator experiment gone wrong.
As for the motivation as to why Tyr would conduct such an experiment, I guess it would be to try and replicate or improve the one-of-a-kind gravity generator that powers most of the station.
In terms of the timeline and how it matches up with the events in the story, I would guess the emergency lights came on when the hull ruptured.
However, considering the creative liberties that can be taken with wormholes as holes in spacetime and their theorised implications with mirror universes, confirming the use of wormholes doesn't rule out any time travel or universe hopping.