A senior civil servant in the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) was killed in an accident on Tuesday night, when she was hit by a car driven by her husband.

Mrs Quek-Ng Siew Fong, 64, had just alighted from the car, with the door still open, when the driver reversed, said deliveryman Johnson Chin, who witnessed the incident.

As she cried out and stumbled, her husband seemed to panic and accelerated the car further, Mr Chin, 55, told The Straits Times.

The car turned sharply, crashing into two motorcycles and a pillar at Block 332, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1.

Mrs Quek, a senior deputy director at MOM's foreign manpower management division, lay on the road bleeding from the head.

It was close to 8pm, and a crowd gathered at the scene. Her husband, Mr Quek Chin Ling, 67, stepped out of the car. "I hit my wife, I hit my wife," he said.

She later died in Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

Mr Chin said he spotted the couple in their car around 7.40pm at nearby Block 325, where he had been doing a delivery. "(Mr Quek) called out to me and said he could not find Block 332. He seemed frustrated and I said I would show him the way," he said. They followed his vehicle, and when they arrived, Mr Quek got out of his car to thank him.

But as the older man returned to the driver's seat, he did not seem to realise that his wife had opened her door and stepped out too. "The car moved backwards very quickly and hit his wife. She was hit by the open door and fell," said Mr Chin.

The owner of an eyewear shop at Block 332, who wanted to be known only as Mr Siah, said he rushed out to the carpark when he heard a bang. "I saw a woman lying on the ground, covered in blood," recalled the 48-year-old.

"A man came out of the car and went to her side, saying 'I hit my wife, I hit my wife'. He kept blaming himself and seemed to be at a loss."

Onlookers quickly called for an ambulance, and a student who said he was trained as a nurse came forward to help, added Mr Siah.

When The Straits Times visited Mr Quek's home near Toa Payoh yesterday, no one was in.

A neighbour, who declined to be identified, said the couple lived there alone. One of their children is believed to live abroad, she added.

Minister for Social and Family Development Tan Chuan-Jin said on Facebook yesterday that Mrs Quek had been "well-loved and respected".

Calling the incident "unfortunate and tragic", Mr Tan, who served in MOM from 2012 to 2015, said: "She had been a dedicated officer who actively looked out for the well-being of the workers working here."

Expressing sadness, Mrs Jeannette Har-Tiong, a director in the foreign manpower management division at MOM, said Mrs Quek had been a good colleague and a friend well-loved by many at the ministry.

Mr Seah Seng Choon, president of the Foreign Domestic Worker Association for Social Support and Training (Fast), said Mrs Quek was one of the pioneers who started Fast in 2005. "Fast has indeed lost a close friend and a great mentor," he said, adding that he, personally, had lost a friend. "We will always be grateful to Siew Fong."