SINGAPORE - Five people have died and one was sent to Singapore General Hospital after a car slammed into the front of a shophouse on Saturday (Feb 13) morning.
In a statement to The Straits Times, the SCDF said it was alerted to a fire at 37 Tanjong Pagar Rd at about 5.40am.
"The fire involved a car and the front of a shophouse. SCDF extinguished the fire with three water jets and one compressed air foam backpack," it said.
Five people were pronounced dead at the scene and one, a woman, sent to SGH with serious burn injuries. ST understands that the five who died were in the car - a BMW - when the accident happened.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
When ST arrived at the scene at 7.50am, about 200m of Tanjong Pagar Road was cordoned off and there was a strong burning smell in the air.
Family members were spotted at the scene and are believed to have identified the bodies of the deceased. They were taken from the accident scene to the mortuary at the SGH in two police hearses. The first, carrying one body, arrived at 11.11am, while the second arrived at 11.26am with the remaining four bodies.
At around 10.50am, the police expanded the cordon to block off the whole of Cook Street and more of Duxton Hill.
Mr Song Seng Wun, 60, an economist who lives in the area, said he heard cars revving loudly down the road at about 5.30am. After about 10 minutes, he heard a loud crash. “I looked out of my window and saw flames,” he told ST.
He saw that the car had crashed into the first floor of a shophouse, which was empty at the time.
When Mr Song went to the scene of the incident, he saw a man kneeling and crying on the side of the road. He said: "He was crying hysterically and begging the police officers for help, saying his friends were in the burning car."
Tanjong Pagar crash: Driver's fiancee struggles to cope with online vitriol
SINGAPORE - Sixteen months after the horrific crash, Ms Raybe Oh is still struggling to cope with the loss of her fiance and what seems to be an endless cycle of surgical operations to treat her burns.
But it appears that some strangers feel the need to intensify her torment.
Ms Oh, 28, has had to fight back tears when reading netizens' comments about the car accident in Tanjong Pagar last February which killed her fiance and four of their friends.
Following news reports of Thursday's (June 9) coroner's inquiry into the crash, the former air stewardess is once again facing online vitriol.
Comments target her and her fiance, Mr Jonathan Long, 29, who was the driver in the crash on Feb 13 last year.
Some netizens go as far as to curse both their families, and express glee over the deaths of the five men.
While she has tried to stay strong in front of her friends and family, the unkind comments have begun to take a toll on her.
Speaking to The Straits Times on Thursday, she admitted to internalising some of these negative comments.
"I deserve it. I know there will be many unkind comments, but I choose to read them," she said.
"I'm sorry for setting a bad example, and I am paying the price."
While she is greatly affected by the comments about her, those which target Mr Long and their families have been especially crushing.
"Please, I can still handle those which target me, but our families have nothing to do with what happened," she said.
"Our parents have gone through so much. They are good people who gave their all to raise us. Please leave the elderly alone. We are accountable for what happened, not them."
She was part of a group of friends drinking at a restaurant in Tanjong Pagar when some of them decided to test-drive Mr Long's new BMW M4.
When Mr Long took four friends - Mr Wilson Teo Qi Xiang, 26; Mr Elvin Tan Yong Hao, 28; Mr Eugene Yap Zheng Min, 29; and Mr Gary Wong Hong Chieh, 29 - for a spin, he crashed into a shophouse pillar.
The coroner's inquiry heard that he was driving at speeds of up to 148kmh, and crashed into the pillar at between 87kmh and 99kmh.
Ms Oh, who was not in the car, dashed to the crash site in an effort to save the people inside. She suffered burns to 80 per cent of her body.
She said she often thinks about that day, and has been getting professional help and therapy to try and deal with the trauma.
But recently, the pain of what happened has become increasingly unbearable.
"I didn't really have nightmares or flashbacks of the incident before, and I could watch the videos posted online about it," she said.
"I thought I was handling everything well. But now I can't. I no longer have the courage to watch the videos from that night."
She is not sure what caused the sudden change.
She said she is now overcome by the fear of reliving the moment she lost her fiance in the fiery crash.
Describing Mr Long as her best friend, she said there is an ache in her chest whenever the reality of him no longer being around hits her.
"I lost my best friend, whom I shared everything with," she said. "The pain hits differently when I think about how I can no longer rant to him or get a hug from him after a rough day."
She had wanted to marry Mr Long as she saw the love within his family.
"He's filial and sweet, and his parents are a loving couple who set a good example for him," she said.
More at https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/fatal-tanjong-pagar-crash-drivers-fiancee-raybe-oh-struggling-to-cope-with-online-vitriol
Tanjong Pagar car crash: Driver and 4 passengers who died were drunk, sped at 3 times the limit
SINGAPORE — The driver of a BMW car involved in a high-profile fatal crash along Tanjong Pagar Road last year had a blood alcohol level just past the drink-driving limit, with the vehicle hitting close to 150km/h at one point.
These details emerged on Thursday (June 9) during the first day of a coroner’s inquiry into the deaths of Jonathan Long Junwei, 29, and his four passengers on Feb 13, 2021.
It was the highest number of people killed in a single traffic accident in the past decade.
Long was showing off his newly bought two-door BMW M4 to several friends who had gathered to celebrate the first day of Chinese New Year, the coroner’s court heard.
After drinking at an Ang Mo Kio home, they decided to have supper at a Korean restaurant — owned by one of them — along Tanjong Pagar Road around 4am.
Three others went behind the wheel of Long’s car and drove around the area, which had a speed limit of 50km/h, at speeds of possibly up to 181km/h. Long then took over for the last round.
His passengers, who were all his current and former colleagues at Aviva Insurance, were Eugene Yap, 29, Elvin Tan Yong Hao, 28, Teo Qi Xiang, 26, also known as Wilson, and Gary Wong Hong Chieh, 29.
Long was speeding at 148km/h at one point and started to lose control at 110km/h to 148 km/h, before crashing into a shophouse at 37 Tanjong Pagar Road and catching fire at about 5.40am.
All five died of severe burns. Long’s girlfriend, Ms Raybe Oh Siew Huey, 26, also suffered severe burns to her body after trying to save them.
'EXCITED' TO CHECK OUT CAR
On Thursday morning, an investigation officer (IO) from the traffic police, Senior Staff Sergeant Muhammad Firdaus Suleiman, took a packed courtroom through his investigation report.
Several family members of the deceased persons were present. They were represented by Long’s father, Gary Wong’s older sister Michelle, and Yap’s brother.
IO Firdaus told the court that the five who died had been drinking with Ms Oh, Ms Phoo Yilin and Mr Park Se Jin on the evening of Feb 12, 2021.
They then went to their common gathering area, Tanjong Pagar Road, to have supper but all the restaurants were closed.
This was why Mr Park decided to open up his restaurant, the now-defunct Hong Jja Jang eatery, for them to continue drinking. They left around 4am.
Long then wanted to show off his newly bought white BMW to his friends outside the restaurant. They were “excited” and “wanted to see how the car looks like and feels”, IO Firdaus told the court.
Ms Phoo had also told the authorities in a statement that Long had been “very persuasive” in seeing who could drive the fastest.
For the first round, Yap decided to drive with Ms Phoo and Mr Park as his passengers. He was speeding between 75km/h to 88km/h, based on a speed analysis report prepared by the Health Sciences Authority.
Mr Park then took over the wheel for the second round with the other two as his passengers. He drove at 52km/h to 59km/h.
For the third round, Ms Phoo was the driver with only Mr Park in the car with her.
She may have been speeding at between 125km/h and 181km/h when she passed a taxi driver, Mr Loy, who was waiting at a nearby taxi stand in front of Tanjong Pagar Plaza. These figures were based on video footage from Mr Loy's dashcam.
The taxi driver, along with another eyewitness who was staying at Tanjong Pagar Plaza, described hearing an extremely loud revving sound. Mr Loy said that he felt a “very strong vibration” before the car went past him “at a very fast speed”.
The route that all the drivers had taken was along Tanjong Pagar Road towards Keppel Road.
They then made a U-turn and went back down Tanjong Pagar Road towards Maxwell Road, before making another U-turn at 37 Tanjong Pagar Road and back towards Mr Park’s restaurant at 97 Tanjong Pagar Road.
DRUNK DRIVER AND PASSENGERS
On the fourth and final round, Long got behind the wheel because he wanted to show how the car should be driven, IO Firdaus said. Wong, Tan, Teo and Yap then entered the car as well.
IO Firdaus said that Wong had a seatbelt on, while Teo did not because he was sitting in a non-designated seat. The authorities were unable to determine if the other three had their seatbelts on because the car was severely burned.
Ms Phoo began filming them on her mobile phone. Based on her video footage, Long drove at 148km/h.
When he began losing control of the car, he was speeding at about 110km/h to 148km/h based on closed-circuit television footage from shophouses nearby.
As the car skidded and mounted the kerb, it was travelling between 87km/h and 99km/h. It then crashed into the shophouse at about 115km/h to 141km/h.
All five in the car were either alive or barely alive when it burst into flames, IO Firdaus said.
The officer revealed that Long had 86mg of ethanol per 100ml of blood. The drink-driving limit is 80mg per 100ml.
He also had a 46 per cent saturation level of carboxyhaemoglobin in his blood from smoke inhalation. This could have caused him to lose consciousness and render him unable to extricate himself from the fire, IO Firdaus added.
The four passengers were similarly drunk. Yap had a blood alcohol level of 119mg/100ml; Teo’s was 162mg/100ml; Tan’s was 128mg/100ml; and Wong’s was 111mg/100ml.
Teo suffered injuries to his vertebra and underlying cervical cord that would have affected his ability to breathe and move. Wong, who sat in the rear left passenger seat, also had pelvic injuries.
Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) personnel arrived at the scene around 5.46am. They were unable to approach the car initially because the heat was too intense, and the passenger door was obstructed by the shophouse’s closed roller shutters.
The rescue workers managed to extinguish the fire at 6.08am and extricate the five men.
Paramedics then declared all of them dead.
More at https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/tanjong-pagar-crash-driver-drunk-1920686
Woman burned in Tanjong Pagar car crash speaks about her recovery and future plans:
Coroner's hearing into fatal Tanjong Pagar crash set for June 9
SINGAPORE - There will be a coroner's hearing next month into the deaths of the five men in the Tanjong Pagar crash that happened last year.
The hearing will be on June 9.
At around 5.40am, on Feb 13, 2021, the five men were in a white BMW M4 that crashed into a shophouse in Tanjong Pagar.
The car had burst into flames. All five died.
They were Mr Jonathan Long Junwei, 29; Mr Eugene Yap Zheng Min, 29; Mr Elvin Tan Yong Hao, 28; Mr Teo Qi Xiang, 26; and Mr Gary Wong Hong Chieh, 29.
Mr Long was the driver.
In security camera footage of the incident, the car appeared to be travelling at a high speed down Tanjong Pagar Road before the crash.
Footage also showed Mr Long's fiancee, Ms Raybe Oh Siew Huey, 26, running into the fire to try and save them.
She is then seen emerging from the inferno covered in flames and running towards shophouses across the road.
She suffered severe burns and was rushed to Singapore General Hospital and admitted in the intensive care unit.
More at https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/coroners-hearing-into-fatal-tanjong-pagar-crash-set-for-june-9
This reminds me of the accident once more ;)
When keyboard warriors mock the dead and cross a line
Five people dead. One severely burnt.
The Tanjong Pagar car crash was the news that most of us were talking about this Chinese New Year.
An absolute tragedy. The story of the fiancee risking her life to save her beau was poignant.
In real life, we would offer our condolences and prayers. Perhaps due to the speed at which the internet has taken over our lives that we haven’t had time to establish social decorum, the comments on the internet were nasty.
“They deserve it”, “another BMW driver”, “serves them right” — these are just some of the milder comments online on this incident.
Come on, no one deserves to die. At least it is not our prerogative to decide if someone deserves to.
We don’t even know them.
We would not want strangers commenting that our loved ones “deserve” to die even if they had done something they shouldn’t. In return, we need to mind our words when we are online.
A couple of years ago, I had my student in junior college submit a column to a newspaper. When it was published, it was supposed to be an exciting moment for her.
Imagine, seeing your very first byline! That kind of encouragement could inspire someone to go into writing, do better for the subject or simply make the person’s day.
Unfortunately, keyboard warriors marred the experience for her, criticising her for her views, with some making very personal and uncalled for attacks on her.
A group of friends was once featured in a newspaper article about a business venture they had.
Online users started judging them based on their nationality and looks. Unfamiliar with the toxicity of the net, my friends were left distraught for a while, wondering what they had done wrong and questioning if the business decision was the right one.
Of course, that’s the internet. We shouldn’t expect more from it and we should be strong.
Shrouded by the cloak of anonymity, the meekest people can voice their worst thoughts online because it feels less personal to diss people they don’t know and there are seemingly no consequences.
This is not new. In the early 2000s, when I was a part-time radio presenter, listeners would sometimes call in to criticise my newsreading, no holds barred. It was impersonal and to them, I was just a voice on the radio.
I took the comments in stride because they were not wrong. I would call them up and thank them for their feedback, acknowledging I had room for improvement.
The interesting thing was these “nasty” listeners would behave totally differently on the phone when they were talking to me, a real person.
The tone became polite and they were apologetic, even though I was not offended.
This is similar to the internet. Online users often do not realise they are targeting real people when they make vile remarks.
Stephen Ferris, an Irish rugby player, recently called for keyboard warriors to be banned, as their venomous words affect the mental health of players and their family. It is akin to cyber bullying.
A 2018 survey on cyber bullying commissioned by Mediacorp’s Talking Point found that in Singapore, about 63 percent of the 353 youths surveyed – largely in the 13 to 19 age group — have been both a victim and a bully in the social media space.
I am thick-skinned and pretty sharp-tongued myself so I don’t take online comments seriously, except when they are constructive. My years in the media had trained me to take myself less seriously.
One commenter to my last opinion piece in TODAY (about my wishlist for Singapore education this year) claimed that I was a Malaysian even though it’s untrue and has absolutely nothing to do with my stand in the article. (I later found out there’s a Malaysian politician called Lim Yi Wei, which is slightly different from my name.)
I simply laughed at the mediocrity of the comments and shrugged it off. But not everyone is as thick-skinned as I am.
I was concerned my 17-year-old student might be hurt if she read the online messages so I had to gently warn her that there was a myriad of comments out there in the harsh real world and not to take heed of them.
The families of the deceased driver and passengers in the Tanjong Pagar crash certainly do not need unsolicited comments about their children when they are mourning their demise.
There was once a report of another case of death on the papers. The keyboard warriors started to speculate how the deceased must have committed suicide or was at his wits’ ends.
I recall thinking that it must have been simple to type those comments because the keyboard warriors are distant from the parties involved. We do not know the victims so it does not hurt us to criticise.
But what if we are relatives of the deceased? Would we have said the same thing?
What really annoys me are the strawman arguments and the spread of xenophobia via these keyboard warriors.
Whenever there’s news about a foreigner getting a job in Singapore, regardless of the merits, there will be comments about whether the person had served his National Service.
To be sure, I am not an angel myself. I tell my neighbours off when they are noisy and I definitely had made unnecessary comments about people I read about. It is easy to judge others but I am trying to change, trying to follow what I preach, especially when:
We often do not know the full story.
We do not know the people involved. When we are merely watching from the sidelines, it is always easier to judge.
Perhaps, the rule of thumb should be: If we are not going to say it to the face of the person involved or if we would not like to be at the receiving end of this comment, we probably should not have said it. Or rather, think before we type.
We are already living in a very sad world today — Covid-19 with its new strains, climate change threatening to drown cities such as Venice and people losing their jobs amid the crisis.
It might be an easy way to let off steam online in this stressful world. It is not illegal to make such comments and there is of course freedom of speech, but let’s try not to do it at the expense of others, especially to those who are grieving.
That would not just be lacking in empathy but also very unkind.
If we are feeling lonely at home in front of the computer, pick up the phone today and call a friend. Use our SkillsFuture Credit to learn a new skill. Or download Tinder to make a new friend.
Mocking the dead shouldn’t be a way to make ourselves feel better.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Lim Wei Yi is the co-founder of education centre Study Room. A former journalist, he also teaches at tertiary institutions.
https://www.todayonline.com/commentary/when-keyboard-warriors-mock-dead-and-cross-line
Wilson Teo was the first to be cremated:
Just came across this:
[劲爆]New Video shows girlfriend of driver running into burning car !
Check out this BMW ad........prophetic much?
Check out this EDMWer's sibei guai lan post hahaha
This Jonathan Long had just bought the 2nd hand BMW M4 coupe for 200K and wanted to take his pals for a test drive.
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/znews/singapore/story20210215-1124219
Friends of the deceased kpkb netizens' comments are hurting them again lol
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/znews/singapore/story20210214-1123963