Friday, October 19, 2012

Car crash sends baby flying across road divider

SINGAPORE - The impact from the crash was so great that it cracked the car's windscreen.

It also sent the baby flying across the road divider, landing almost 3m away on the other side of the road.

Miraculously, the little girl survived, with only minor injuries.

The maid who was carrying her also lived. But she had to be hospitalised for what is believed to be injuries to her head and spine.

The accident happened at about 4.30pm yesterday.

The car, a silver Mercedes-Benz, hit the maid as she was crossing the road at Hillview Avenue, at Bukit Batok.

The maid had been crossing from a bus stop to the divider in the middle of the road. It is believed she was heading towards the condominium less than 10m away.

Both the maid and the baby were flung into the air by the impact. They landed a distance from each other on the road.

Crying

Witness said the baby was left crying.

A small pool of blood could still be seen on the road when The New Paper visited the scene an hour later.

The car driver, a man in his 30s, said that the maid was carrying the baby while talking on the phone as she was crossing the road.

"She dashed across the road suddenly," said the man, who works in the food and beverage line and wanted to be known only as Mr Chua.

"There were few cars on the road at that time."

Mr Chua added that he had slammed on the brakes, but could not stop in time.

He added that the woman and the baby were conscious after the accident.

"The child was okay.The woman was bleeding slightly," he said.

The impact of the collision left his car with a cracked windshield and a dent on his car's bonnet.

A resident of a nearby condominium called the TNP hotline about the accident.

The woman, who wanted to be known only as Esther, said she was in her apartment when she heard a loud bang.

"I thought it was two cars colliding, but then I looked out the window and saw a woman and a baby lying on the road," she said.

The baby and the woman were some distance apart.

"I saw some residents of the condo and some drivers who stopped their cars to help," said Esther.

"But no one dared to lift the baby or move her."

Security guards from a nearby condominium said the baby was crying, and the maid was conscious but unable to get up on her own.

An ambulance arrived soon after.

A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) spokesman said the SCDF received a call at 4.47pm about an accident at 95 Hillview Avenue,The Petals.

Both casualties were taken by ambulance to the National University Hospital (NUH).

The baby has been discharged while the maid remains hospitalised.

SCDF said that a woman in her 30s, believed to be the maid, had suffered injuries to her head and was suspected to have spinal injuries.

At the hospital yesterday, her employers were overheard saying that there were no fractures.

They looked worried, but also relieved that the baby had sustained no major injuries.

She was surrounded by relatives at the Accident and Emergency department at NUH.

They had rushed down to the hospital from work on receiving a call about the accident.

The baby's mother had declined to comment, but said: "The most important thing to us right now is that they're all right."

She was also overheard saying that she had not met the driver, but that he should have gone to the hospital to apologise.

But Mr Chua had been at the scene of the accident at that time with a police officer.

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