IT was one mishap after another for a school bus driver yesterday.
First, the bus leaked oil and then hissed and crackle, releasing smoke and sparks.
Then, as the driver and some other helpers were trying to fix the problem, the bus rolled down a slope and crashed into a house - watched by 16 excitable primary school students.
The incident happened at around 2pm when three boys alighted from the private school bus at the junction of Jalan Mastuli and Aroozoo Road in Charlton Park, off Upper Serangoon Road.
The boys then noticed oil dripping from under the bus.
Ivan Lim, 10, said that he and his friends motioned to the driver to alert him. 'There was a puddle of oil. The door was already closed. So I used my badminton racket to point to the spot,' he said.
Suddenly, the friends noticed sparks at the front section of the bus.
His friend, Yew Ke Yao, 10, said: 'There was also smoke and crackling noises. It was frightening.'
By then, the driver, who had been ferrying students from Maris Stella High School (Primary), had also detected strong smoke and oil fumes from inside.
The driver, who gave his name only as Mr Yong, said he quickly switched off the engine and told the remaining 13 students to get off the bus.
The ruckus caused by the boys attracted the attention of Madam Gladys Foo, 38, and her sister, Anita, 35, who were three houses away in their mother's home.
Madam Foo said: 'The children were running up and down the road. So I went out to tell them not to make so much noise. That's when I saw the smoke and sparks coming from the bus.'
GATHERED CHILDREN
Worried for their safety, Madam Foo, who is seven months' pregnant, hurried to gather the children at the adjacent park, away from the bus.
'They were so curious and kept wanting to run to the bus,' she said.
Her sister took their garden hose and ran to hose down the bus. The sisters and the 53-year-old driver also borrowed another hose from one of the neighbouring houses.
Madam Anita Foo recalled: 'We couldn't seem to do anything, and the smoke kept getting thicker. So I ran off to call the police while the driver continued to hose down the bus.'
But to everyone's horror, the bus, which was parked on a slope, started to move.
It rammed into the gate of one of the houses about 5m away, bringing down the left side of the gate before coming to a halt. No one was in the house at the time.
Madam Anita Foo, whose mother's home is next to the house, said she panicked and decided to evacuate the people in theirs: three adults and four children, including her 1-month-old baby.
'I was afraid that the bus would explode,' she said. 'It was quite alarming when I saw the bus going towards our house. Thankfully, it stopped at the gate.'
She also told the occupants in the other house to evacuate.
By the time civil defence personnel arrived in a Red Rhino, the smoke had subsided. Two fire engines arrived shortly after.
The bus driver told The New Paper that he had applied the hand brake before getting out of the bus.
He said in Mandarin: 'I was very anxious and I thought the bus would go up in flames. My first thought was to make sure that the children got off the bus.'
The owner of the bus company, MrEddie Lim, 47, turned up after Mr Yong informed him of the incident.
Mr Lim said he suspected that some of the wires in the bus had short-circuited.
He eventually deployed another bus to send the rest of the children home.
Madam Gladys Foo said it was lucky that she and her sister, who was on maternity leave, were visiting their mother yesterday.
NO EXTINGUISHER
She said: 'During the day, there are mostly children and elderly people here. I don't think they would have known what to do.'
She added that she was surprised the bus did not have a fire extinguisher.
'They should carry one in case such a thing happens,' she said.
Madam Lai Suet Lin, 69, the owner of the house that the bus crashed into, said she rushed home with her husband and son after one of her neighbours called to inform her.
She could not go into her house until the bus was towed away at about 4.30pm.
'I'm just glad that the children were all right, and there wasn't much damage to my house,' Madam Lai said.
