Trapped in a taxi crushed by tipper truck, man texts loved ones

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Anyone who saw the mangled taxi crushed beneath a tipper truck would have feared the worst for its occupants. Yet Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) rescuers who arrived at the accident scene on the Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE) on Wednesday could hear screams coming from the crumpled heap.

Amazingly, the cabby and his passenger, whom they couldn't see but could hear, were alive. But SCDF officers were worried because they didn't know how long the cab could support the weight of the truck. Could the victims be rescued in time?

Trapped among mangled steel, Mr Vincent Ng Say Ho called his parents. He had been in a bad accident, he told them.

Mr Ng, who works at PricewaterhouseCoopers which provides assurance, tax and advisory services, was on his way to meet clients in Tuas on Wednesday when a tipper truck went out of control and crashed onto the taxi he was in.

Upon receiving the news, his parents and brother rushed to the National University Hospital (NUH). They arrived there a full half-hour before him.

While the ashen-faced family paced up and down the corridor outside the hospital's emergency department, Singapore Civil Defence Force officers were still extricating him from the crumpled taxi.

The SCDF sent 10 vehicles including two fire bikes, two fire engines, a Red Rhino and two ambulances, to the scene.

Commander of Tuas Fire Station, Major (Maj) Zhou Yansheng, 29, said paramedics kept talking to the driver to keep him awake while it was observed that a passer-by stopped to comfort the driver and prayed with him.

This allowed SCDF firefighters to focus on cutting through the vehicle to get him out. Other motorists also stopped to help remove debris such as glass and metal.

But time wasn't on the side of the SCDF officers as they tried to meet their target of getting both men out and to hospital within an hour. This was no ordinary situation, not when a taxi was squashed under a gigantic truck.

SCDF officers initially tried cutting through the taxi to get to the victims, but realised it was not a good option.

Said Maj Zhou: "We were concerned we were affecting the structure of the taxi and its stability as it was supporting the weight of the truck. Any slight movement would have been very dangerous."

But how were they going to lift the truck?

So SCDF officers scoured the AYE for any cranes that were stuck in the jam and asked five crane operators for help.

This included one who was travelling on Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim. The driver was told to move against the flow of traffic to get to the site. The driver was worried, but the SCDF got the approval of the Traffic Police and the Land Transport Authority and the crane made its way to the scene by moving on the road shoulder.

Three of the cranes were used to lift the truck off the taxi.

One of the crane drivers, Mr Lim Thiam Ngor, 56, who was on his way to Depot Road from Tuas said, "As I was driving down the expressway, a policeman stopped me to ask how heavy my truck was. When I said it was a 25-tonner, he asked if I could help out at the scene of an accident."

"I was late for my delivery by more than an hour, but helping to save someone's life is more important."

His crane was parked on the other side of the expressway and was "used as an anchor".

Once the truck was lifted, rescuers shovelled off the cement which covered the taxi and used hydraulic rescue equipment to gain access to the victims.

A doctor and two nurses from the National University Hospital (NUH) were also sent to the scene.

Maj Zhou said when they got to the driver, he was pinned inside, crouched next to the door.

After SCDF paramedics confirmed that he didn't suffer spinal injuries and could move, the cabby crawled out of his taxi through a window. Half-an-hour had passed since the accident.

Firefighters next used spreader cutters and hydraulic tools to cut through the taxi to get to Mr Vincent Ng who was contacting his father about the accident.

It took the SCDF about 90 minutes to free him. Both men were taken to NUH and are in stable condition. Maj Zhou said: "I am amazed and thankful no one died."

The tipper truck driver who had crawled out through the passenger window on his own shortly after the accident, said the accident happened as he was swerving to avoid a three-vehicle accident ahead of him. TNhere was an earlier accident in the same area involving a mini bus, a lorry and a black car.