Car plunges into canal; two dead
It exited mall in River Valley before heading into bushes and hitting the water: Witnesses
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Carolyn Khew, David Fogarty
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This story was updated at 11.39am on Jan 25, 2016, to include the victims' identities
Two women were killed when their car plunged into Alexandra Canal on Sunday (Jan 24) night.
They have been identified as Madam Yep Lay Choo, 51 and her daughter, Ms Kimberly Poon, 22.
Eyewitnesses told The Straits Times that a silver Mercedes emerged from the carpark of Valley Point Shopping Centre in River Valley Road at around 9pm.
It drove straight into the bushes next to Alexandra Canal before hitting the water.
Madam Yep's husband, Mr Robin Poon, 50, was at the morgue on Monday morning with relatives to collect the victims' bodies.
"I'm just lost," Mr Poon, who runs a car repair business, told The Straits Times, adding that he did not know what had caused this unfortunate accident.
Madam Yep, who works in human resource, and Ms Poon, a student and the couple's only daughter, had gone for dinner at Valley Point Shopping Centre. The duo took the family car, a silver Mercedes E250.
Madam Yep's brother, Mr Yep Tai Sai, 54, said CCTV footage from the mall showed the two walking happily at the carpark carrying grocery bags.
"They were smiling and walking, nothing was wrong," said Mr Yep.
A 33-year-old man, who saw the accident happen but declined to be named, told The Straits Times: "I heard a loud bang as the car hit the barrier before it went straight into the canal."
The police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) arrived shortly after, as about 200 people gathered near the canal and the mall to see what was happening.
A floodlight was installed and a ladder placed at the spot where the vehicle was believed to have entered the water. At press time, two bodies were retrieved from the canal.
Investigations are ongoing.
On Dec 22, 1993, a Ford Laser plunged into the Singapore River near the junction of Boat Quay and Tew Chew Street at about 5am. The 22-year-old driver drowned in the accident.
A similar accident happened two years earlier, on March 27, 1991. A taxi driver blacked out behind the wheel and drove into the Singapore River at high tide about 100m from the scene of the December 1993 accident. The cabby was rescued by a hawker who dived into the river after witnessing the accident.
And on June 24, 1989, five people were killed when a Toyota Corolla plunged into the Singapore River near Clarke Quay during heavy rain.
