Thirteen people were injured after a Mount Alvernia Hospital shuttle bus heading towards Bishan ploughed into a bus stop along Braddell Road yesterday.

Two pregnant women, aged 26 and 33, were among those injured. They suffered leg pains and were taken to KK Women's and Children's Hospital.

The driver - a man in his 50s - suffered suspected spinal injuries. It is unclear what kind of injuries the other victims suffered, although most of them are understood to be minor.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said it was alerted to the accident at 12.10pm and dispatched two fire engines, four ambulances and two support vehicles.

Nine of those injured in the accident- including the driver - were aged between 30 and 60, and taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

The remaining two injured - a 43-year-old and another person in the mid-30s - were conveyed to Raffles Hospital.

There were 26 people on board the bus when the accident occurred. Thirteen were unhurt and taken to Mount Alvernia for check-ups at its walk-in clinic, according to a hospital spokesman.

When The Straits Times arrived at the scene at around 1.30pm, the bus stop was cordoned off.

The badly damaged bus had ended up facing the wrong direction of traffic, with debris - including the driver's door - strewn all over the pavement.

An eyewitness, who declined to be named, said that the bus was travelling quite fast at the time of the accident and skidded before it mounted the pavement and hit the bus stop.

The bus - which is operated by Bus-Plus Services, a subsidiary of SMRT - is a free regular shuttle service provided by Mount Alvernia Hospital that stops at Bishan and Novena MRT stations.

Mr Kelvin Soon, the company's general manager, said: "We are sorry that this has happened. We are doing our best to get in touch with all the injured parties to provide assistance. We are also helping the police with their investigations."

The Land Transport Authority tweeted about the accident at 1.09pm, and warned motorists to avoid the left lane.

The lane was reopened to traffic later in the afternoon.

Public transport operator SBS Transit said on its Twitter account at 2.48pm that four of its bus services - 93, 156, 157 and 163 - would skip the affected bus stop.

Bus services resumed at around 4.45pm, with buses stopping a little farther down the road, away from the affected area.

Police investigations are ongoing.