If you’ve got a haunting that’s not Casper the ghost, you’ll want to call the Ghostbusters.
If there’s a crime going on or a particularly ugly dispute with your HDB neighbour, you should call the Singapore Police Force (SPF).
Or depending on the crime itself, the ‘Singapore Batman’
…not to catch the criminal, mind you, but to join in on the ‘fun’.
But for almost everything else, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) is your ‘guy’ for the job!
A Taxi was Flipped on Its Side in a Road Traffic Accident
Happened at the junction of Bukit Timah Road and Selegie Road, a road traffic accident involving a taxi and a sedan occurred.
The accident occurred at around 2.50am on 10 July 2021.
The accident flipped the taxi on its side, resting precariously against a concrete barrier.
Both drivers of the taxi and the sedan managed to escape from their respective vehicles pretty unscathed but that’s not the case for the two passengers in the back seat of the taxi.
One of the passengers was piled on top of the other – likely because they didn’t wear seat belts – and they were both trapped in the vehicle.
Nevertheless, the drivers were sent to Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) for a check-up while the rescue was underway.
Firefighters Stabilised the Vehicle First, Priming It for the Rescue
Upon arrival, the SCDF assessed the situation and decided that they need their specialist team, the elite Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (DART), to help.
In the meantime, the firefighters from the Central Fire Station stabilised the flipped taxi using stepped chocks and blocks.
They also secured the undercarriage of the taxi with a winch to a fire engine.
The purpose of all of this is to ensure that there would be minimum movement once the rescue operation is ongoing to safeguard the lives of the trapped passengers.
The windscreen of the taxi was also cut out to open up access to the trapped passengers from the front.
DART Darting to the Rescue
Pun fully intended and I’m not even going to apologise because of how bad it is!
Anyway, once arrived, they secured and stabilised the passengers through the taxi’s front windscreen and its rear hatch.
At the same time, the second DART team used hydraulic equipment to pry the roof of the taxi apart so that the trapped passengers can be lifted out safely in a subsequent delicate operation.
The entire rescue operation lasted around an hour.
The two rescued passengers were immediately sent to TTSH with traumatic injuries.
Bravo to the SCDF for a job well done. These people are the real superheroes of the country.
Featured Image: Facebook (Singapore Civil Defence Force)