One killed, 16 hurt in Tuas accident
Passenger dies at the scene after bus crashes into railings at checkpoint
SINGAPORE: One person was killed and 16 others were injured after a bus collided into railings at Tuas Checkpoint.
The victim was a 35-year-old female bus passenger and was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics, said the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) yesterday.
The accident blocked the heavy vehicle lane from about 4.20am, causing traffic to pile up, as buses and lorries coming from Malaysia towards Singapore were unable to enter the checkpoint.
The ICA subsequently closed the lane and the heavy vehicles were turned back to Malaysia.
At one point, motorists were advised to use Woodlands Checkpoint for both arrival and departure instead.
The lane was reopened at about 10am.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it responded to a call for assistance at 4.25am.
When its officers arrived at the accident scene in Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim, they saw a bus against the side railing of the flyover.
“The bus driver was trapped in his seat and had to be rescued by SCDF using hydraulic rescue equipment,” it said.
Its officers also found two women at the foot of the flyover.
One of the women suffered serious injuries and the other was pronounced dead at the scene by a paramedic.
The bus driver and 11 passengers were taken to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital (NTFGH) and National University Hospital (NUH).
There were four other passengers assessed with minor injuries and they declined to be taken to hospital.
Four of the accident victims were discharged from NUH while two remain warded yesterday afternoon.
At NTFGH, five of the injured admitted had only minor injuries and were later discharged.
One accident victim remains warded but is in stable condition.
A spokesman for technology com- pany HP confirmed that some of its employees were on the bus involved in the accident.
She said: “Our thoughts are with those who were involved, and are doing everything we can to provide assistance to affected employees.
“We are concurrently working with the authorities to get more information.”
Dia Abdullah, 28, who was heading to Singapore from Malaysia for work in the morning, said that it took him more than an hour to clear the checkpoint because of the traffic jam.
It would usually take about 30 minutes at 5.30am, he said.
The operations executive said: “The traffic is usually clear for cars at that time but we were not able to move, as they stopped us and were allowing buses and lorries to make a U-turn back to Malaysia.”