Bus driver who crashed into tree outside the depot is 39th workplace fatality this year

SINGAPORE - The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has confirmed that the bus driver who died early on Sunday morning was a workplace fatality, the 39th this year.

The 54-year-old Singaporean was driving his SBS Transit bus along Defu Avenue 1 at around 2.40am on Sunday to pick up other bus drivers when he crashed into a tree outside the bus depot, the ministry said.

Online photos and a video of the accident’s aftermath showed that the bus windscreen had shattered. 

The bus driver was trapped in his seat and extricated by Singapore Civil Defence Force officers, and pronounced dead at the scene an hour later, an MOM spokesman added.

The driver, Mr Liu Shan Liung, was known to his friends and colleagues as Ah Long. 

He was a loving husband and father, a bus captain of over 20 years and a respected union leader, said Mr Melvin Yong, National Trades Union Congress assistant secretary-general and National Transport Workers’ Union executive secretary, in a tribute on Facebook.

Mr Yong said he visited Mr Liu’s family on Monday with other union leaders.

“Ah Long leaves behind his wife and three school-going children. I assured the family that the union is working closely with the company and we will do all we can to support them during this difficult time.”

The police are investigating the accident. 

Chinese evening daily Shin Min Daily News reported that Mr Liu leaves behind three sons, aged 12, 16 and 18.

His wife, Madam Lin, 53, told Shin Min that her husband switched to doing night shifts about five years ago.

She said he was a good husband who took care of his sons and helped with the housework.

“He took his job seriously and was also the backbone of the family,” she said.

“I don’t know what to do now. I can only take it one step at a time.”

Madam Lin said that her husband’s favourite watch appears to be missing, and hopes that it is returned to the family if found.

Following the accident, many netizens had speculated online that Mr Liu had suffered a heart attack just before the crash.

But Madam Lin urged the public to stop speculating, and said the cause of death indicated on her husband’s death certificate was multiple traumatic injuries, not a heart attack.

“The company arranges for the drivers to have a health check-up every year,” she told Shin Min.

“My husband had always been healthy and had no health problems.”

Mr Liu’s colleagues who spoke to Shin Min said he was a frugal person, but was generous to friends.

His funeral is expected to be held on Tuesday.

The 39 workplace deaths so far this year surpassed the 37 workplace fatalities recorded in 2021.

MOM imposed a six-month heightened safety period from Sept 1 following the spike in work-related deaths this year.