93-year-old among 5 taken to hospital after bus and trailer truck collide at Ophir Road junction

SINGAPORE – Four bus passengers, including a 93-year-old, and a pedestrian were taken to hospital after an accident on June 6 involving a Tower Transit bus and trailer truck near Sim Lim Tower in Jalan Besar.

The police said they were alerted at about 1.45pm to the accident that happened at the junction of Jalan Besar and Ophir Road.

The four bus passengers, aged between 39 and 93, and a male pedestrian, 54, were conscious when taken to hospital, they added.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said five people were taken to Raffles Hospital.

Following the accident, the Land Transport Authority said on X at 1.50pm that the section of Ophir Road after Sungei Road was closed. 

In a Facebook post at 3.14pm, Tower Transit said that bus service 857 was involved in the accident, with delays of up to 30 minutes for services 980 and 857.

Photos and video clips of the accident were widely circulated on messaging platform Telegram.

In a 17-second clip, the left side of a travelling green bus collides with rebars secured onto the bed of a trailer truck.

The rebars – reinforcing steel used as rods in concrete – seem to break through the bus windows and the bus tilts to the right.

As the bus continues to move forward, the rebars are dragged off the bed of the trailer truck.

Photos of the aftermath of the accident show the trailer truck and its fallen rebars cutting off the traffic on the three-lane Ophir Road.

The left side of the bus is damaged and some of the glass panels on the bus doors and windows seem to have shattered.

A rebar appears to be lodged on the left side of the bus, just above the rear doors.

In response to queries from The Straits Times, Tower Transit said: “Four passengers and a pedestrian have been conveyed to the hospital, and we are following up with them and their families to provide assistance.”

Police investigations are under way.