Seven-vehicle pile-up leaves trail of destruction on the Central Expressway

A seven-vehicle pile-up on the Central Expressway saw four people being sent to hospital.

The incident, which took place at around 8am during the morning rush hour, involved a tipper truck, a lorry, three motorcycles, a white sedan and a taxi.

The vehicles had been heading towards Ang Mo Kio.

Madam Hong Xiumei, 48,found herself stuck in a jam for at least an hour.

She thought this was the usual rush-hour traffic jam until she passed the accident scene.

ON THEIR PHONES

She told Chinese newspaper Shin Min Daily News: "I'm not too sure how the motorcycles collided, but three to four motorists were lying on the road next to the lorries and they were on their phones calling for help."

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said it received a call about the accident at 8.20am and sent two ambulances to the scene.

Four motorists - two men in their 20s, one man in his 40s, and a woman in her 20s - were injured and sent to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital.

According to Madam Hong, almost all lanes in the five-lane highway were affected by the accident.

"Cars could move past the area only by going around the lorry," said the 48-year-old, who is self-employed.

The Land Transport Authority tweeted about the accident on its Twitter account, warning motorists about the heavy traffic congestion caused by the accident.

Motorists also took to online forums like the Singapore Hardware Zone, to talk about the accident.

One of them, with username TopGun, wrote: "I passed by the scene and saw two banged-up bikes, a tipper (truck), (and a) few cars that were involved. One biker could walk, while the other was stretchered." - Additional reporting by Darishini Thiyagarajan