Back in March, an accident took place at Queenstown which involved an SMRT taxi knocking into 3 pedestrians who were crossing the road at a traffic light.
One of them, a 66-year-old lady, suffered head injuries and succumbed to her injuries 2 hours later.
On Thursday (18 Sep), The Straits Times revealed some facts about the case. As it turns out, the driver involved in the accident was unconscious, having passed out due to a ruptured liver tumour, which led to the traffic accident.
According to The Straits Times, Mr How – the 72-year-old taxi driver – started his shift at around 6.30pm that day, but did not feel anything physically wrong.
He was reportedly driving past Lornie Road with 3 passengers when he felt an excruciating pain in his left abdomen.
The sharp pain apparently subsided but reemerged later as he was driving along Commonwealth Avenue West.
This time, the pain was accompanied by other symptoms, which included:
Mr How applied medicated oil to his forehead and nose but continued driving.
Moments later, he arrived at a traffic junction along Queensway and reportedly came to a stop when the traffic light turned red.
According to the state coroner, Mr How recalled signalling right but passing out.
He eventually regained consciousness and found the front passenger shouting at him. He then realised out that his vehicle’s windscreen was cracked and that the vehicle had moved away from where it originally was.
It took a while before realising that a collision had occurred — he ran into 3 pedestrians. One of them died in NUH 2 hours later.
Mr How was reportedly brought to the same hospital where scans showed he had a ruptured tumour.
He underwent surgery and subsequently found out that he has liver cancer.
According to the doctor who treated Mr How, the ruptured tumour caused severe bleeding into the taxi driver’s abdomen.
It also caused a loss of blood flow to his brain, which led to a temporary loss of consciousness.
The death of the 66-year-old was the result of “an unfortunate traffic misadventure”, according to a state coroner that The Straits Times contacted.
She also found no basis to suspect foul play, based on the evidence that they found.
MS News would like to extend our heartfelt condolences to the family members of the deceased.
While this seems to be a truly unfortunate accident, it is a reminder that we should undergo regular medical checkups, which could help us uncover potentially serious conditions at an earlier stage.
Featured image adapted from Facebook.
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