Granny, 76, suffers brain bleeding after fall in bus

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An old woman is in hospital, suffering from internal bleeding in her brain, after falling down while on board a double-decker bus.

She is understood to have fallen while on her way down from the upper deck as the bus approached a bus stop.

But that is about all the two parties - the bus company and the family - agree on.

Her family members claim that she fell because the driver applied the brakes abruptly. SBS Transit says she fell because she lost her footing on a step while coming down from the upper deck.

Madam Lee Siew Eng had taken bus number 143 at about 4pm last Sunday after visiting the Singapore Buddhist Lodge at Kim Yam Road.

The 76-year-old cleaner, who works at the National University of Singapore, was heading home to her family's five-room flat at Clementi West Street 2. The incident happened as the bus approached a stop at West Coast Road.

In an e-mail reply to The New Paper, Ms Tammy Tan, SBS Transit's senior vice-president for corporate communications, referred to CCTV footage recorded inside the bus.

She said the footage showed Madam Lee descending from the upper deck as the bus approached the bus stop, slowing down behind another bus.

Ms Tan said: "There was no jerking or abrupt braking. Unfortunately, Madam Lee lost her footing on one of the steps and fell.

"When she landed at the foot of the stairs, our bus captain immediately stopped the bus and rushed to her assistance - as did another female passenger."

The driver contacted the SBS operations control centre and Madam Lee was taken by ambulance to the National University Hospital.

Ms He said her grandmother was found to have suffered internal bleeding in the left side of her head and a fracture in her left shoulder.

The family hopes SBS Transit will conduct training workshops to remind their drivers of the importance of safety.

SBS Transit's Ms Tan said: "We are very sorry to learn of Madam Lee's injuries and visited her in hospital on Monday afternoon.

"We are also in contact with her family and have shared our investigation findings with them."

Mr He told TNP the family was not satisfied with SBS Transit's reply.

He said: "We asked to see the CCTV footage for ourselves, but SBS went quiet."

Ms Tan told TNP: "For security reasons, we are only able to release CCTV footage to the relevant authorities. In this case, we are going to provide a copy of the CCTV recording to the police to aid their investigations."

The police said they are looking into the matter.