One sister dead, another hurt in S’pore crash

SINGAPORE: One sister is dead while another has been hospitalised.

The two Nucos siblings – Arlyn, 50, who died and Arcely, 56, who was injured – were among the six victims of the Lucky Plaza accident on Sunday afternoon, which also killed a second woman. All six Filipino nationals and domestic helpers were close friends.

They were gathered on a pavement along Nutmeg Road behind Lucky Plaza for early celebrations ahead of the New Year when a black Honda turned towards them, mounted a curb, hit the group and crashed through a pavement railing and plunged several metres.

The car landed on the exit lane of Lucky Plaza’s carpark and it is believed the victims were flung from the pavement to the lane below as the car fell.

The other four victims – who are now at Tan Tock Seng Hospital – are aged 37 to 56.

The two Nucos sisters’ brother Reynaldo – who is in the Philippines’ San Carlos district in Caba town, La Union – told radio station Bombo Radio La Union that he and another family member realised something was wrong when his two sisters did not check in for their weekly video calls.

Reynaldo said he learned of the accident after calling his wife, who is also a domestic helper in Singapore, late on Sunday.

He said Arlyn and Arcely had already remitted money for their family to use for the Christmas and New Year festivities.

Online news site Rappler reported that the sisters had been working as domestic helpers in Singapore since 1990.

Arcely was set to return home in January.

On Sunday, police said they were alerted at 4.58pm to an accident involving a car and six women along the Orchard Road shopping strip.

A 64-year-old male driver, whose black Honda sported private-hire licence decals, was arrested at the scene for dangerous driving causing death.

It is understood that the driver was attempting a U-turn before crashing into the railing. — The Straits Times/ANN