Foreign workers pull trapped man out of van

Mr Terrence Tang, 26, was in a van and waiting for a traffic light to turn green when he heard branches falling and a police officer yelling: "Get out."

He stepped on his accelerator and his van lurched forward.

A moment later, a giant tree came crashing down on his van, crushing the rear of the vehicle.

"If I did not move my van in time or if I were just a little bit slower or did not react quickly enough, I would have been dead," Mr Tang told The New Paper.

"The tree was around 20m-tall and fell over eight lanes."

His close shave happened at 8pm on Tuesday along Aljunied Road.

The director of Yellow Inch, a T-shirt printing company, said he was driving towards his office in Woodlands at the time and had about $5,000 worth of goods in his van.

He said: "I was so shocked and wanted to get away. I could not see the tree because it was on the back of my vehicle.

"The door was stuck and I was trapped."

PULLED OUT

A group of foreign workers helped pull him out through the van's window.

"They also asked if I was okay after I got out," he said.

Mr Tang said he had no injuries from the freak accident, but was taken to the hospital later that evening after he vomited several times.

He was told he had a concussion and was given painkillers before he was discharged.

His wife Jowell Chua, 26, who runs a bridal shop, said: "I was worried and concerned when I first got a call from my husband, telling me about the accident without explaining the details.

"He was shivering and looked very traumatised when I first saw him.

"I was worried when I noticed that he was speaking very slowly, which is very unlike him."

Now, Mr Tang is worried the delivery costs of sending the T-shirts to his clients will go up.

"We are mainly providing uniforms and gifts to corporate clients, hence the quantity is usually larger. For example, we have an order for a few thousand pieces that needs to be delivered next week.

"It usually fills the whole van, and sometimes we even have to make two trips using the van," he said, adding he would need to use his own car or rent a van to deliver orders for now.

"We might have to make a few trips just to deliver one order, and we usually send around 10 orders a day.

"So the fuel and time spent is going to add on to the losses."

myklim@sph.com.sg

 

This article was first published on Dec 15, 2016.
Get The New Paper for more stories.