Woman pinned under 4m-long tree branch at Bendemeer Rd suffers bleeding in the brain

Woman pinned under 4m-long tree branch at Bendemeer Rd suffers bleeding in the brain

A woman suffered bleeding in the brain after she was hit by and pinned under a 4m-long tree branch that fell at Bendeermer Road yesterday.

Stomp contributors Dzulkiflee and JY sent photos of the injured woman lying under the fallen tree branch via email to Stomp.

The victim, Ms Cao Yan Yan, a 32-year-old engineer from China, was walking on a footpath on her way to work when the incident happened.

The police said that the freak accident happened at about 9.45am and The Straits Times reported that the weather was sunny and calm at the time.

The branch, which fell from a 10-storey-tall tree, left Ms Cao with a deep gash above her right eye and appeared to have hurt her right arm as well.

Eyewitnesses told evening paper Shin Min Daily News that she was conscious but bleeding from her injuries, and crying out in pain.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force took her by ambulance to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

Last night, Ms Cao's husband told The Straits Times that doctors were keeping his wife under close observation as she had suffered bleeding in the brain from the accident.

The deep cut above her eyebrow had been stitched closed, he added. "They are hoping there won't be any swelling of the brain, or they might have to operate on her," Mr Lin, also 32, said in Mandarin.

He added that doctors had kept his wife in the Intensive Care Unit for about two hours after she arrived at the hospital, and that he managed to see her only at about 1pm.

She is currently in the Neurological Intensive Care Unit. Mr Lin said the couple had been working in Singapore for the past five years. "I am just hoping that she recovers soon," he said.

The tree, which is on land owned by JTC Corporation, was inspected in January and found to be healthy, said a spokesman for the industrial developer.

"As a safety precaution, we have further checked another six neighbouring trees under JTC and did extra pruning works on them," she added.

Falling trees and branches in Singapore have killed four people and injured more than 60 in the past decade.


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