SINGAPORE — The vehicle exhaust system that got damaged when a BMW car crashed along Tanjong Pagar Road in a high-profile accident last year ignited leaked petrol, which then caused the fatal fire that engulfed the car and its five occupants.

In delivering his findings on Wednesday (Aug 24), State Coroner Adam Nakhoda said that modifications done to the car, which had emerged during the coroner's inquiry that began in June, had no bearing on the accident or contributed to the fire.

State Coroner Nakhoda ruled that the crash that resulted in the loss of five men “in the prime of their lives” was a traffic-related misadventure, noting that the police had found no reason to suspect foul play.

At the time of the incident, the car was driven by Jonathan Long Junwei, 29. 

His father was the only next-of-kin who attended the hearing on Wednesday. He told the media that the findings “gave closure” for the family.

GATHERING, DRINKING, SPEEDING

On Feb 12 last year, Long and several of his friends gathered at night to celebrate the first day of Chinese New Year.

At around 4am on Feb 13, after drinking at someone’s home in Ang Mo Kio, they decided to have supper at a Korean restaurant along Tanjong Pagar Road. The restaurant was owned by one of the group members.

The court heard that the group of 10 people shared four to five bottles of soju, an alcoholic drink, among themselves during the course of the dinner.

During the conversation, the topic of Long’s newly bought car came up. One of the friends, Ms Phoo Yilin, recalled that the idea to test out the car had cropped up, though she did not recall who came up with the idea.

Three other people then got into Long’s car and drove around the area, which had a speed limit of 50km/h. They were driving at speeds of possibly up to 181km/h.

Long then took over for the last round.

His passengers, who were all his current and former colleagues at Aviva Insurance, were Eugene Yap, 29, Elvin Tan Yong Hao, 28, Teo Qi Xiang, 26, also known as Wilson, and Gary Wong Hong Chieh, 29. They perished with him in the crash.

The police said previously that it was the highest number of people killed in a single traffic accident in the past decade.

State Coroner Nakhoda said on Wednesday that there was no evidence to show that Long had “encouraged or cajoled” the passengers to enter the car, and they had appeared to have done so “out of their own volition”.

Portions of Long’s drive were captured by closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras there, a phone camera recording by Ms Phoo and an in-vehicle footage of a parked taxi there.

Analysis by the Health Sciences Authority on the available footage of the incident showed that at one point, Long was driving at a “staggering speed” of 148 km/h to 182 km/h, up to 3.5 times the speed limit of that road, State Coroner Nakhoda said.

He added that this showed a “shocking lack of consideration” for the possible consequences of such dangerous actions, and a “disregard of his own safety and that of the passengers and other road users”.

THE FATAL FIRE

The car later drifted and swerved and rotated until it was perpendicular to the road direction, and Long might have applied hard braking, evident from the white smoke emitting from the wheel, State Coroner Nakhoda added on Wednesday.

The car rotated further before rear-ending a pillar at a speed of 87km/h to 99km/h.

The crash caused damages to the back and undercarriage of the car and significant deterioration of the exhaust system, among other things.

Fuel leaked and spilled from the tank, as evident from CCTV footage and investigations, possibly due to the tank being damaged by the impact or melting due to high temperature, or both.

The exhaust system, which could have reached temperatures as high as 600°C, may have ignited a mixture of petrol vapour, air and combustible plastic at the base of the car, causing the fire.

An autopsy showed that the alcohol content in the blood of all five occupants were above the 80mg/100ml legal limit for driving.

Even though they were alive when the fire started, they were likely to be unconscious or have passed out shortly after the fire started.

Their intoxicated state, as well as skeletal injuries sustained by some of them, may have prevented them from getting themselves out of the car.

In delivering his findings on Wednesday, State Coroner Nakhoda said that the tragedy was a reminder to never drive under the influence of alcohol, “and even less so in combination of excessive speed and bravado”.

He expressed his condolences to all the families of the deceased.

After the hearing, Long’s father told reporters that the findings gave his family “final closure” and that they now have to learn to move on with their lives, though he conceded that “it’s not easy”.

“My daughter, Raybe, there’s a long way to go for her recovery. We willl support her, be with her until her full recovery,” he said,  referring to his late son’s girlfriend, Ms Raybe Oh Siew Huey.

She had suffered severe burns while trying to approach the car to rescue its occupants.