Thursday, April 16, 2009

THEY had missed the demonstrations in Bangkok and the violence in Pattaya.

But their holiday plans came to a sudden halt when they met with a traffic accident in Singapore.

The 24 tourists from Hunan, China, were on a whirlwind tour of the region. They were in Thailand for five days, including Bangkok and Pattaya, and were supposed to spend two days in Singapore before continuing to Malaysia.

But not anymore.

Yesterday, at about 10am, their tour coach collided with an SBS double-decker bus service 56 at the junction of Selegie and Mackenzie Road.

The impact sent the SBS bus hurtling to the left, where it crashed into a tree, smashing railings and bringing down a signpost.

When The New Paper arrived at the accident scene, we found glass shards scattered all over the road.

The back of the bus had folded in and diesel was leaking from the exposed bus engine.

Because of the accident, vehicles could only travel on one lane of the five-lane road, causing a major traffic jam.

According to Ms Tammy Tan, the spokesman for SBS Transit, the collision occurred as the bus was 'moving off from the bus-stop'.

It caused 'our bus to surge 28m forward, mount the kerb and hit a tree'.

She said: 'Four of our passengers and the bus captain were injured.'

One passenger, who wished to be known only as Mr Lim, said that there had been six passengers on the bus , including himself. He was not hurt.

He said the injuries to the passengers were not serious.

Another eyewitness who declined to be named said that after colliding with the SBS bus, the tour coach decelerated to the right.

The front part of the tour coach was crushed by the collision. Less than half of the windscreen remained.

A tourist said that they had just left the Spice Garden at Fort Canning Historic Trail and were heading for more sightseeing when the accident happened.

Scared

Another tourist, Madam Jiang Lian Qun, 58, said: 'I was so scared. I had no idea this was going to happen.'

An eyewitness, Mr Zainal Mohamed, 50, said the tourists were standing by the side of the road crying.

'Some of them looked stunned,' he added.

Most of them were taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital. Their injuries were minor, a hospital spokesman said.

Most of the tourists have been discharged, said Ms Josephine Woo, a spokesman from their travel agency, Victoria Travel, told The New Paper last night.

The agency has found accommodation for those discharged as the tourists were scheduled to be in Malaysia by last night.

According to the Singapore Civil Defence Force, there were 33 casualties in total.

Investigations into the accident are ongoing.