1 dead, 2 injured in Hougang crash

1 dead, 2 injured in Hougang crash

Resting in the private bus as it was taking him to work, construction worker Anowar felt a sudden jerk but thought nothing of it.

The bus stopped and the 28-year-old noticed everyone on board getting off.

He followed them thinking it was nothing serious.

But when he alighted, he was horrified to see a car in a mangled heap in front of the bus.

As it turned out, there were three people trapped inside.

The collision between the bus and the blue Nissan car happened at about 9.30am at the junction of Lorong Ah Soo and Hougang Avenue 1 yesterday.

A woman in her 70s, who was sitting in the back passenger seat, was killed.

Two men, aged 19 and 21, were injured and taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

The younger man was in the front passenger seat and had to be extricated with hydraulic tools by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).

An SCDF spokesman said they received a call at 9.30am, and sent two ambulances, a Red Rhino, a fire engine and a support vehicle to the scene.

The left side of the bus was smashed in. The impact also caused the left headlight of the car to be dislodged.

The windshields of both vehicles were cracked.

The bus was ferrying construction workers to work when the collision occurred.

Mr Anowar said: "I had no idea what had happened. I only knew something was wrong when everyone got up to leave the bus."

When The New Paper arrived at the scene, there were about 10 workers milling around, observing the wreck.

A resident, whose block overlooks the accident site, said she heard loud banging noises but brushed it aside as she thought they came from the nearby construction work.

The housewife in her 40s, who wanted to be known as Madam Sng, said in Mandarin: "It is always noisy (due to the construction) so I didn't think much about it."

It was only when she went down at around 10am that she realised an accident had happened.

Another onlooker, Mr See Tin Keong, 52, said it is common for accidents to happen on that stretch of road.

He said: "The roads here are sloping downwards.

"Drivers tend to speed up here so accidents may occur. When I drive here, I'm extra careful."

Police are investigating.

choomf@sph.com.sg


This article was first published on Sep 19, 2014.
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