Driver of crashed ambulance in Clementi found to carry fake license

Text: Shah Salimat
Photos: CNA

An Indian national was found to be at the centre of a private ambulance accident last week when the vehicle he was driving crashed on the middle divider at Clementi Road outside Maju Camp. The accident happened at around 12.30pm last Tuesday, with local reports citing witnesses who saw the driver losing control of the vehicle while on the way to the hospital.

It is believed that the passengers and crew were injured from the crash and the ambulance driver had fleed from the scene of the incident. 67-year-old Chai Ai Li was being ferried in that ambulance to head for kidney dialysis and suffered internal bleeding and nine fractured ribs due to the incident. She died two days later in hospital. Her husband in the ambulance escaped with injuries.

The daughter of the deceased said in local reports that her mother has dialysis treatments three times a week due to third-stage renal failure and has to travel via private ambulance to the dialysis centre due to her frail stature. The ambulance was believed to have been travelling at up to 90 kilometres per hour.

The driver has since been apprehended and found to have carried a fake license. The husband received a call last month that a new ambulance company had taken over the responsibility to ferry Ms Chai to and fro the dialysis centre. Another paramedic on the ambulance also sustained injuries. Police are investigating the incident.