About 50 people help trapped driver after tree fell on truck near Sim Lim Square
The tree was eventually lifted by a nearby crane and SCDF used hydraulic equipment to save the man.
Ruth Chai
Three people were conveyed to a hospital after a huge tree suddenly fell along Ophir Road, pinning a pickup truck and trapping the driver on Sep. 21, 2023.
Driver trapped
A TikTok of the incident uploaded the next day showed dozens of people gathered around the fallen tree outside Sim Lim Square.The tree can be seen to block four out of five lanes of the road
Footage of the accident was also posted on SG Road Vigilante's Facebook page the same day.
According to the person who uploaded the video, his vehicle narrowly missed getting crushed as the tree fell mere seconds after he drove off.
He said when people found out the driver was trapped in the pickup truck, migrant workers nearby came to rescue him.
Nearby crane helped to lift tree
There were about 50 of them, but before they could rescue the driver, Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) personnel arrived and took over.Responding to Mothership's queries, the SCDF confirmed that a man was trapped in the vehicle's driver's seat.
They said two other people were in the front cabin and another sitting in the back, but they managed to escape before SCDF's arrival.
With assistance from a nearby lorry crane, the tree was lifted from the pickup truck while SCDF used hydraulic rescue equipment to rescue the trapped person.
All three in the front cabin were conveyed to a hospital.
Top photo via TikTok
