A 25-year-old lorry driver was charged yesterday with causing the deaths of three pedestrians - including a father-and-daughter pair - by allegedly driving his vehicle in a dangerous manner near Yio Chu Kang MRT station.

Singaporean Xu Kai Xiang is said to have failed to maintain proper control of his lorry while he was driving along Ang Mo Kio Avenue 6 towards Marymount Road at around 9.30am on Monday.

According to court documents, the vehicle mounted a kerb and hit the railings before ploughing into pedestrians.

The lorry is said to have continued surging forward before it hit a stationary SBS bus at the entrance of Yio Chu Kang bus interchange. It then veered to the right and hit a bollard, coming to a stop.

Mr Chua Cheng Thong, 86, his daughter Gina Chua Aye Wah, 59, and a family friend, Mr Yap Soon Huat, 63, were killed in the tragedy.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said its officers had to use rescue lifting airbags to extricate two of the victims from under the lorry. Paramedics pronounced all three dead at the scene.

The Straits Times earlier reported that Xu was injured and was conscious when he was taken to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital.

He was charged in hospital yesterday and was offered bail of $15,000. His case has been adjourned till April 30.

This accident was the third fatal crash reported on Singapore roads in the past week.

Last Thursday evening, National University of Singapore undergraduate Kathy Ong, 19, was killed after the taxi she was travelling in with three friends was involved in a collision with a car at the junction of Clementi Road and Commonwealth Avenue West.

Then, early on Sunday, a 23-year-old woman died from her injuries after the Mercedes-Benz she was in collided with an SMRT bus at a Bukit Timah traffic junction.

If convicted of causing death by dangerous driving, Xu can be jailed for up to five years.