Eight injured after multi-vehicle collision on PIE

SINGAPORE — Eight people, including two prison inmates, were sent to hospital on Friday afternoon (May 13) after an accident on the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) involving a prison van, a private van and a tipper truck.

The collision happened at about 2.50pm on the eastbound expressway before Tampines Street 31.

A police spokesperson said the 59-year-old truck driver was arrested.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said the door of one of the vehicles at the accident scene was jammed and had to be pried open with a hydraulic rescue tool.

The eight casualties, including the two inmates, were sent conscious to Changi General Hospital.

Mr Oh Swee Thye, 48, who called the Mediacorp news hotline, said he noticed a “very, very bad jam” when he was driving past on the opposite side of the expressway at about 3.30pm.

“No vehicles were moving and the whole expressway was blocked. Two to three lanes were closed. Even the emergency tow trucks behind couldn’t pass through. There were a lot of people crowded on the overhead bridge … many police officers were surrounding the two vans,” the minibus driver told TODAY.

Investigations are in progress.