Girl, 5, dies after being hit by taxi

A 5-year-old girl died of internal injuries and her seven-year-old brother had head injuries after they were hit by a taxi as they crossed Sembawang Drive on Wednesday night.

The children and their parents are from Mumbai.

The accident occurred near Sembawang Primary School at about 8.20pm.

According to Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao, the siblings were taken to a nearby clinic, before being sent to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital.

The girl died at the hospital. The boy was later transferred to intensive care at KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) and was said to be in a stable condition.

The children were with their 32-year-old housewife mother, who was not hit by the taxi.

Their father, who is also 32 and works in the financial services industry, was not with them at the time of the accident.

When The Straits Times visited KKH yesterday, the parents were too distraught to speak to the media.

They were accompanied by friends and relatives, some of whom had flown in from Mumbai yesterday.

A friend, who did not wish to be named, said that the family had moved to Singapore two years ago and are permanent residents. He said they live in the Admiralty area.

A TransCab spokesman told The Straits Times that the driver of the taxi, a 68-year-old Singaporean, visited TransCab offices yesterday to file an accident report.

She said he claimed the children dashed out onto the road and that the traffic lights were in his favour at the time.

When asked about the taxi driver's claims, the family friend, who also lives in the Admiralty area, said that the road was usually quiet with few cars, and that the taxi had allegedly been travelling at a high speed.

The accident is believed to have taken place within a designated school zone, with the road marked in red.

It is not the first fatal accident in the area.

In January this year, Sembawang Primary School pupil Lee Yu Heng, nine, was killed after a speeding car hit him as he crossed the road near the school entrance.

His parents started a petition, calling for the area's roads to be made safer by installing larger road signs to let drivers know they are entering a school zone, as well as speed humps to slow vehicles down.

Meanwhile, a police spokesman said that the taxi driver is assisting with investigations. He is currently on bail and has not been charged with an offence.