The driver of a van reportedly used to ferry children had stopped at a traffic light in Sengkang when he saw a nearby crane toppling.
Thankfully, he managed to jump out of his vehicle before the crane crushed it completely.
Source: SG Kaypoh 人！on Facebook
He was sent to hospital injured.
Photos of the crane accident in Sengkang were shared across social media on Tuesday (9 April), including over the SG Kaypoh 人! Facebook page.
They showed a large crane lying on its side across the road. It had ostensibly came from the construction site next to it.
Source: SG Kaypoh 人！on Facebook
The top of the crane’s boom had landed squarely on top of a white van, squashing the vehicle flat.
One of the photos show an ambulance at the scene, and a road sign indicating that the incident occurred at a road junction in Compassvale.
Source: SG Kaypoh 人！on Facebook
In response to queries from MS News, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said they were alerted to an accident on Tuesday (9 April) at about 4.55pm.
The accident took place at the junction of Punggol Road and Compassvale Street, it added.
One person was conveyed to Sengkang General Hospital.
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) told MS News that a 28-year-old van driver sustained injuries and was conveyed to the hospital while conscious.
It also said the crane had toppled onto a stationary van beside it while the crane operator was maneuvering it up a trailer.
There was nobody else was in the van when the accident happened.
However, the driver was in considerable pain, an eyewitness told ST.
Another driver who was behind the van when the crane toppled over said he knew the van driver, and he had told him he was hurting in his shoulder and his head.
These injuries caused him “terrible pain”, he said.
The eyewitness said the van was used to ferry children to school. In fact, it had just dropped a child off before the accident.
A Sengkang resident told ST that the crane was being loaded onto a truck when the accident occurred.
The van driver jumped out of his vehicle just in time when he saw the crane toppling over, the resident added.
Source: @sathishpaul on TikTok
Nobody was in the crane’s cabin at the time, other eyewitnesses said.
A spokesman for PUB, the national water agency, told ST that construction was being done on a public sewer at the Sengkang site.
The contractor is assisting the police and Ministry of Manpower (MOM) with their investigations.
The 49-year-old male crane operator has also been arrested for negligent conduct, said the police. Police investigations are ongoing.
The accident caused a portion of Punggol Road to be closed in the crowded housing estate.
At 5.32pm, the Land Transport Authority’s (LTA’s) Traffic News account on X posted that Punggol Road had to be closed after Sengkang East Way.
Source: @LTATrafficNews on X
The crane had not been moved more than two hours later at 7.45pm, ST reported.
Source: Alvin Oon on Facebook
MOM is working with the construction firm to recover the crane.
Also read: Crane arm of truck collides with overhead bridge in Chinatown, driver arrested
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Featured image adapted from SG Kaypoh 人！on Facebook.
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