Girl, 14, among 3 injured after minibus falls into Bukit Panjang canal

SINGAPORE – Three people were taken to hospital after a minibus fell into a canal near the Senja-Cashew Community Club in Bukit Panjang on the afternoon of Aug 19.

Responding to queries from The Straits Times, the police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said they were alerted to the accident near the junction of Bukit Panjang Road and Bukit Panjang Ring Road at about 1.10pm.

The accident involved a bus and a minibus, the police said.

Three people were taken to safety after SCDF officers used a ladder to access the Pang Sua Canal.

A 68-year-old male minibus driver and his two female passengers, aged 14 and 53, were taken conscious to hospital, police said.

Two of them were taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital and one to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

Photos posted on Facebook show the minibus, with a damaged bumper, in the middle of the canal. Several workers can be seen near the vehicle.

The logo of International Community School – an international school in Jubilee Road, off West Coast Road – can be seen on a side of the minibus.

A representative of the school said the vehicle is operated by its transportation provider, Goh Transport.

The school and the transport company said in a joint statement on the evening of Aug 19 that none of the school’s students were involved in the accident, as classes were going on at that time.

The vehicle was being used to ferry students from another school, which was unnamed in the joint statement. The three injured were the driver, a bus attendant and a student.

Both the bus attendant and the student were recovering in a normal ward as at 6.45pm, with the school and the company awaiting updates on the driver’s condition.

Police investigations are ongoing.