SINGAPORE — His peaceful Friday (June 17) doze was interrupted by the sound of a loud “boom” from outside his flat in Bukit Batok West.

Stepping out of his sixth-floor flat and looking down to the road, a strange sight greeted Mr Soh Kim Peng: The roof of a nearby covered walkway had collapsed, crushing a car — after a lorry, with an attached crane arm, crashed into the walkway.

According to Mr Soh and his 65-year-old neighbour, Mr Hon Hock Tek,  when they went downstairs later, they saw a Chinese man getting out of the lorry, looking disoriented at the fallen structure and the smashed car, a blue sedan. 

The lorry driver then made calls on his mobile phone as he paced around anxiously. He is believed to have forgotten to lower the attached crane arm before driving through the walkway, located between Block 116 and 118 Bukit Batok West Avenue 6.

The unusual accident occurred at about 9.30am.

The lorry driver was later arrested under the Road Traffic Act, for the damage caused by his heavy vehicle on government property and not adhering to the height limit. Nobody was injured in the accident. 
 

Mr Hon said it was lucky that children from the nearby pre-schools were indoors at the time of the accident. The walkway connects two blocks of flats, and there is a preschool on the ground floor of each block.

Madam Celina Lua, a resident at Blk 116,  said: “I was shocked to be told of this (accident) by my friends through the phone. When I heard the loud ‘boom’, I thought it was just the normal construction works (going on).”

In a statement, the Jurong-Clementi Town Council said: “Our immediate priority is the safety of the residents. The affected area has been barricaded, while we work on dismantling the damaged portion of the linkway.”

When TODAY visited the accident site on Friday another crane was being used to pull up the fallen walkway from the smashed car at around 2 pm. The walkway was also being dismantled with blowtorches.

The Building and Construction Authority said in a statement: “The Professional Engineer  appointed by the owner of the sheltered walkway has confirmed that the structural integrity of the adjacent HDB blocks is not affected by the incident.”

Police said investigations are continuing.