Of the more unfortunate...

It has been close to 3 weeks since our accident. We are almost recovered. We do know that what remains is perhaps the scars left on our physical bodies and perhaps a mental scar that reminds us of what happened on that day.

Two days after our eventful accident, another accident happened near to Tuas Causeway.

A motorcyclist and his female pillion rider was hit by a 24foot lorry. The lorry driver fled the scene after that. Both riders were left unconscious on the road. Withnesses were not able to obtain the registration number of the lorry.

The male rider suffered concussion and went into a coma. He also suffered from fractured hip and legs. We are glad that the rider have finally woken from his coma but was diagnosed with amnesia.

The female rider suffered cuts and stitches on her back, knee and face. As she is the sole bread winner, she insists to go back to work despite of her 2 weeks medical leaves and taking care of her three children with the youngest being a two year old daughter at the same time.

ONzLAH is assisting with appeal of withnesses to this traffic accident.

Date: 3rd November 2008, Monday
Time: 1650 hrs
Location: Near Tuas 2nd Link (1KM)
Involvement: 24 foot lorry hitting a Motorcycle with two riders on board.
Please call 1800 - 547 1818 Traffic Police to provide the information.

We sometimes take things for granted and complain about our woes and forgot that there are others who suffered worse fate than us. We are constantly complaining how much we suffered from our circumstances and more often than not made things seems far worse than they really are or more painful than the actual thing.

As humans perhaps, we also try to take advantage of these situations to negotiate for what we want.

From the situation of the above mentioned motorcyclist and his wife. They are not able to claim any insurance as they did not have any withnesses who can identify the Lorry Registration Plate. The wife had to support the family as well as take care of her husband while recovering from her own injuries.

Perhaps we should start thinking before we start complaining to the next person how much pain we are in as there are more people in real life that have suffered far worse situations and are still suffering in silence.

Note from Tennas

Crew of ONzLAH injured in Traffic accident (UPDATE)

On 1st November 2008 Saturday at about 3 pm, four of our ONzLAH Crew with another friend were heading towards Bollywood, at 100 Neo Thiew Rd. While travelling along Jln Bahar Road, the driver of the car decided to take the drive casually. The car appraoched a bus which stopped at the busstop and the driver decided that he shall not overtake. He stopped behind the bus and waited for the bus to move off.

The driver and four other ONzLAH crew members started to chit chat while waiting for the bus to move.

Out of the sudden, there was a crash and the car which the crew of ONzLAH was in was sandwiched between a lorry and the bus.

A speeding lorry hit the saloon car which the crew of ONzLAH was in and the car in turn hit the but infront. The car lost both it's bonnet and boot.

The driver of the lorry alighted from the lorry to check the damages to his lorry and went to the rear of his lorry to make a phone call. All passengers were still trapped in the badly damaged car.

The driver of the car managed to get out of the car and tried to open the door behind the driver's seat. He pulled Shirlyn out of the car who was already in shock. Tennas climbed out of the car with his chin bleeding. He pulled Rachel out of the car and seat her at the nearby bus stand. Rachel too was in shock. Raymond got out of the car by climbing out from the driver's side.

It was chaos all over.

Our driver, quickly accessed the damage and with some help from the alighting passenges from the bus called for ambulance.

Raymond and Tennas and some of the passengers of the bus helped calmed the two injured ladies and after that Tennas did first aid for himself. (Surprisingly the SMRT bus driver did not know that he has a first aid kit on his bus.)

All these while, the lorry driver was at the back of his lorry waiting for his boss.

The ambulance arrived within five minutes and conveyed all the ONzLAH members to hospital. The following is the description of the injuries.

1) Rachel :- Cuts on her lower lip and inuries to her neck and back. She was given outpatient treatment and 3 days medical rest.

2) Shirlyn :- Shock and slight concussion. She was warded in NUH for two days and subsequently discharged on 3rd November 2008 and also 14 days of medical rest.

3) Ramius (Driver) :- Suffered burns on his hands due the airbag explosion. He also suffered injuries to his back and neck. He was given 3 days medical rest.

4) Raymond :- Suffered injuries to his neck and back. He was given 3 days medical rest.

5) Tennas :- Suffered serious cuts to his chin and injuries to his neck and back. He was given 16 stiches to his chin and was given 4 days medical rest.

To date, our driver and ONzLAH are still trying to accertain the amount of damages in terms of the equipments lost during the accident as well as to the car.

ONzLAH would like to thank all the passengers on the SMRT bus who lent a helping hand at that time of the accident and SCDF for their prompt response.

Special thanks to Dr Vivien of NUH for stitching Tennas up.

More updates will follow.