FIVE lorries, two separate collisions seconds apart and only metres from each other. The result: 53 casualties, but fortunately, no fatalities.
Yesterday's early morning accidents - on each side of Pioneer Road in Jurong - saw the highest number of injuries in a highway pile-up in more than a year.
Traffic along Pioneer Road crawled at a snail's pace for at least two hours from 6.30am, as emergency rescue officers ferried the injured to hospitals and officers began clearing the road of the five lorries.
The 53 casualties, mostly Bangladeshi and Indian nationals workbound from dormitories in Tuas and Woodlands, suffered mainly cuts, abrasions and bruises.
By evening, most were discharged, but at least eight remained warded. Seven suffered abdomen and chest injuries. One suffered a fractured limb.
In the first accident, at about 6.30am, three lorries got into a bumper-to-bumper collision. About 70 workers in all were flung about the back of their lorries.
Seconds later, the second accident - involving two lorries - occurred on the other side, just metres away.
It is believed that the drivers had been distracted by the scene opposite. The impact was also less severe.
It is unclear how many workers were on these lorries, but the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said only two workers were injured. But one of the lorry drivers was trapped and had to be freed using hydraulic tools.
The number of casualties led to a major SCDF operation: 11 vehicles, including six ambulances and two personnel decontamination vehicles (PDV), were deployed.
The PDVs, introduced in 2003, are meant to handle mass-casualty decontamination situations. Yesterday, they were improvised ambulances too.
Meanwhile, three hospitals went on the alert to await casualties.
MaxiCab driver Richard Lai, 35, who stopped by the scene yesterday, said of the frenetic post-accident activities: 'I thought it was an emergency evacuation exercise.'
Yesterday's accidents turned the spotlight again on the issue of ferrying workers in the backs of lorries.
Spokesmen of the firms that hired the workers told The Straits Times no safety rules were flouted yesterday. Each lorry carried about 20 workers, and that did not exceed the licensed number.
