Truck spills 20 tonnes of ice

Truck spills 20 tonnes of ice

SINGAPORE - A punctured tyre was all it took for a tipper truck to topple, causing it to spill its cargo of 20 tonnes of ice.

As a result, the vehicle will be scrapped and its owner will have to fork out $400,000 to replace it.

The truck, which belonged to Uni-Tat Ice and Marketing, overturned on Thursday at the junction of Ubi Avenue 2 and Ubi Road 1. As the vehicle made a left turn, its front left tyre punctured.

Uni-Tat Ice and Marketing director Alex Goh, 57, said: "The tipper truck is beyond repair and has been towed to Malaysia to be scrapped.

"The damages to the truck amount to $200,000. We have to spend another $400,000 to buy a new truck."

The company sent two cranes, a low bed trailer and a recovery truck to the scene. Another five trucks and 10 workers were deployed to recover the ice bags.

1,100 BAGS OF ICE

Almost half of the 1,100 bags of ice had burst open and spilt onto the road, resulting in a loss of $1,750.

"We took eight hours to clean up the aftermath of the accident. We had to hoist the truck up and recover the ice.

"The ice, which was meant for restaurants, had to be sent to a cement factory in Tampines for industrial use instead," said Mr Goh.

The tipper truck was travelling from Johor Baru to a warehouse in Ubi and was just five minutes away from its destination when the accident happened.

This is the first time such an accident has happened in Mr Goh's 20 years as director of Uni-Tat Ice and Marketing.

He said: "We don't blame the driver. It's just unfortunate that the tyre punctured as the truck was making the turn."

The Malaysian driver, who is in his 30s, has been with the company for over 10 years and this accident is believed to be his first.

Uni-Tat Ice and Marketing has 12 other delivery vehicles to deliver almost 11,000 bags of ice daily.

With the loss of the tipper truck, operations have been disrupted and the company has had to turn some customers away because it is unable to cope with the orders.

The police were alerted to the accident and investigations are ongoing.

This article was published on May 3 in The New Paper.

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