**Note: All photos pertaining to the accident are removed out of respect for the families and victim**
Updated
UPDATED [24 April, 1:20pm, adding more details from media reports]
The wife of a NUS professor died after being hit and dragged by an SBS Transit double-decker bus Tuesday morning.
The accident happened around 7:40 am as bus service 78 was turning into Clementi Avenue 3, according to The Straits Times.
Zhang Hui Rui, 43 is the wife of associate NUS professor, Gong Jiangbin, a researcher in NUS’ Department of Physics. The Chinese national was reportedly dragged for about five metres before the bus came to a stop.
Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao reported that her husband immediately broke down when he was at the scene of the accident.
According to another Chinese daily, Lianhe Zaobao, the professor and his wife come from China and live in a condominium near the site of the accident. They have a 10-year-old daughter studying at Nan Hua Primary School.
Police said the 47-year-old Singaporean Chinese driver involved is assisting them in investigations. Zabao reported that the driver’s wife said her husband usually does the 156 services route and was supposed to be on leave but took over a shift for the 78 service route for a friend.
In a statement, the Singapore Civil Defence Force said they received an emergency call at 7:43am Tuesday about an incident where a bus had hit a pedestrian along Commonwealth Avenue West.
A female Chinese was pronounced dead at the scene by the fast response paramedic that had been immediately dispatched after the call, SCDF said.
In a statement, SBS Transit senior vice president for corporate communications Tammy Tan said they are assisting the police in their investigations and have suspended the bus captain from driving duties with immediate effect.
“We are very sorry that this has happened and our foremost priority is to get in touch with the family to express our deepest condolences and to render assistance as best we can during this very difficult time,” Tan said.
Credits: Yahoo Newsroom
First spotted on The Online Citizen Facebook Page,
Fatal accident involving a female pedestrian and a public bus
A fatal accident involving a female pedestrian and a public bus took place this morning along commonwealth ave west road, located near the clementi bus interchange.
According to a witness, the pedestrian was crossing the road while the green man was on, before she was knocked down by the bus, dragging her for about 5-6 metres.
Through the photographer who submitted the photo, its heard that the victim is aged around 50 years old.
Accounts of those who seen the body of the victim have spoke of severe physical trauma being inflicted.
TOC could not verify the nationality of the bus driver but was told that the driver is a Chinese.
Both traffic police and police were present on site to cordon off the area and conducting their investigations on the accident.
Credits:The Online Citizen Facebook Page
And then on STOMP:
Woman killed in fatal accident near Clementi interchange
A woman was killed after being knocked down by a bus at Clementi Avenue 3 this morning (Mar 23), at around 8.45am.
According to a Shin Min Daily report, police are looking for eyewitnesses to come forward with information.
Credits:STOMP Article HERE
So apparently it was a public bus that caused this fatal accident. However, there should have been people on board the bus who would have noticed it right? Unless the driver was off duty and driving it back to the bus depot/interchange.
Meanwhile, it seems that there were other witnesses who witnessed this accident as seen from The Online Citizen, so I hope they’ll help inform the police about what they saw and help find out the truth.
Lastly, RIP to the female pedestrian
Till later,
♥ mitsueki
What a sad article! I can’t begin to imagine how awful that must be for the poor witnesses. How do you shake off something like this?
A “Hit and Run” is where the car departs the scene without stopping, which this is not. Additionally, until all the details are known, please abstain from passing judgement on the driver. If there was a ‘green man’ and the bus went through then the Police will deal with it appropriately and he should be severely punished. I’m definitely not siding with the bus driver either; I feel very sorry for the victim and have a friend who saw the victim shortly after BUT seeding people’s thoughts and ideas while the facts are not fully known is not right.
Hi Adrian, it would seem that I didn’t read the article properly initially as upon re-reading again, I realized that it didn’t mention anything about the driver so I had assumed that it was a generic hit and run incident. Thanks for pointing it out! Have amended accordingly.
Also, I must emphasize that I am not seeding anyone’s thoughts/ideas but rather, just writing down my initial opinion of the article itself.
Lastly, I am sincerely hoping that other witnesses will step forward to give their account of what happened – and also, I am looking to hear the driver’s side of the story too.
Regardless, this remains as a fact that a life was lost today – and like you, I echo your thoughts about being sorry for the victim.
Thanks for updating your article. Had you left those earlier comments, and readers not looked further, there was a risk of being influenced and that’s what I was referring to when I said “seeding thoughts”; it’s quite clear to me that wasn’t your intention. Thanks, CIAO!
Please remove the picture showing the victim’s husband, in respect to the dead and living.
All photos pertaining to the accident have been removed out of respect for the families and victim