Strangers lift lorry at Bendemeer to save trapped man
Accident at Bendemeer Road junction
Cafe manager Sharon Wong heard screams and shouts coming from outside her Bendemeer Road cafe at around 12pm yesterday.
Curious, she rushed to the front of the Careshop de Cafe and what she saw shocked her.
A man was trapped under the wheels of a lorry and a group of passers-by were trying to free him by tilting the vehicle.
Ms Wong, 40, told The New Paper: "People were trying to lift a lorry to save someone trapped underneath. He was wailing in pain."
She saw a group of men pushing the lorry from the left side where it had stopped at the junction of Bendemeer Road and Boon Keng Road.
PULL MAN OUT
A few of the men were attempting to reach under it to pull the man out.
Ms Wong's co-manager, Mr Erwin Ng, 40, said: "It all happened so fast. Suddenly, so many people came to help."
Other witnesses said that many people who were on their way to lunch quickly went to help.
Mr Ernest Chee, 38, a sales manager at engineering company Weidmuller, caught a glimpse of the scene as he was driving to lunch.
He said: "There were both local and foreign workers trying to lift the lorry.
"From what I saw, the man's legs were twisted."
A video of the incident was shared on Facebook by Mr Foo Suan Wang at around 12.30pm.
At first, 12 people can be seen pushing the lorry, which has the label "Securforce" on it, so that it tilts to the right.
Then more people are seen joining in to help, until around 30 people tip the lorry far enough for the man to be pulled out from underneath.
For a few seconds, he lies on the road without moving, while the crowd dissipates as quickly as it formed.
Then he finally moves in the last few seconds of the 1½-minute video.
Mr Foo wrote on his Facebook post: "Accident outside my office... Man screaming and then all walk (sic) of life came and help... Well done Singapore."
The video has since gone viral, with more than 200,000 views last night.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and the police said they received a call for assistance at 11.50am.
An SCDF spokesman said a 35-year-old male pedestrian, who was conscious, was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital with a fractured leg.
The lorry driver, a 25-year-old man, was arrested.
Police are investigating.
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