Cabby hurt in five-vehicle pile-up at West Coast highway

An accident between a lorry and a taxi sparked a chain collision involving three other vehicles on the West Coast Highway yesterday.

It started with a lorry colliding into a taxi from behind on the highway heading towards Jalan Buroh.

The blue Comfort taxi then slammed into a black Toyota Corolla Altis before going off the road and landing in shrubbery of the central divider.

The Toyota hit a van, and the van collided with a black Volvo SUV.

The Toyota driver, Mr Joseph Chua, an engineer in his 40s, told The New Paper: "It happened at around 11am. The vehicles were waiting at a red light when the accident happened. My car was in front of the taxi.

"The lorry driver later apologised to us and claimed that his lorry's brakes had failed."

A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) spokesman said it received a call for an ambulance at West Coast Highway at about 11.15am.

MINOR INJURIES

An ambulance took the taxi driver, who had minor injuries, to the National University Hospital (NUH).

The police said that the taxi driver, 66, was conscious when he was taken to NUH. The other drivers were not injured.

SCDF has classified the accident as a multiple-vehicle collision.

Mr Pavaday, the driver of the Volvo, said: "I am extremely upset. The whole of the back of my car is damaged."

Mr Chua said: "During the accident, my family immediately came to my mind. I was so afraid I was going to die."