Family members of Yio Chu Kang accident victims still grappling with shocking crash

SINGAPORE – Days after the fatal crash near Yio Chu Kang MRT station, family members of an elderly man and his daughter who were hit by a fast-moving lorry are still struggling to come to terms with the events leading up to the accident.

Mr Chua Cheng Thong, 86, his eldest daughter Gina Chua Aye Wah, 58, and their friend Mr Yap Soon Huat, 63, were on a pedestrian path near the station when they were struck by the lorry around 9.30am on Monday (April 23).

All three died at the scene. Mr Chua was in a wheelchair when the accident took place.

"They were on the correct pedestrian path," said Ms Chua's second sister when approached on Wednesday at the wake for her father and sibling. She declined to give her name.

"My mother is distraught…I don't know how long it is going to take us to accept this fact…nothing is going to bring them back."

She and other family members declined to say where the trio were headed that Monday morning, citing ongoing police investigations.

But she spoke fondly of her father and sibling, describing her late sister as a filial daughter who supported the family financially and spent much of her annual leave to take care of their parents.

She added that her father had worked hard to give them a good education, and was a cheerful and friendly man. "He mixed around a lot in the neighbourhood," she said.

According to the charge sheet against the lorry driver Xu Kai Xiang, his vehicle was travelling along the third lane of a three-lane road near the MRT station when he began to veer left towards the pedestrian walkway.

His lorry subsequently mounted the left kerb, collided onto the railings and surged forward, hitting Mr Chua, Ms Chua and Mr Yap, who were on the sidewalk.

The lorry came to a stop only after hitting a stationary SBS Transit double-decker bus, and colliding with a bollard.

Xu, 25, was charged with dangerous driving causing death on Tuesday in the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, where he had been warded for injuries he sustained from the accident. If convicted, he could be jailed for up to five years.

Xu's father, Mr Xu Shu Jing, had previously told TODAY that his son had told him that his vision had "gone blurry" before he hit the pedestrians.