An elderly newspaper vendor was killed in an accident yesterday while heading home after making his rounds on his motorbike.
Paramedics announced 70-year-old Oh Swee Hai dead at the scene of the accident along Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1, where he was involved in an accident involving an SBS Transit bus and a lorry. The bus driver, according to various media reports, was arrested for causing death by a negligent act.
An SBS Transit spokesperson stated that the motorcyclist was first involved in a crash and fell down on the road. The 46-year-old bus driver had been unable to avoid running over Oh in time.
The cops were alerted to the scene at 6am yesterday and covered his body in a blue police tent. A clip of the aftermath surfaced on Facebook, showing newspapers scattered near a fallen motorcycle as well as a trail of blood and other matter leading to Oh’s covered body.
SBS Transit senior vice-president of corporate communications Tammy Tan assured the media that the company will be getting in touch with Oh’s next of kin to assist them. The Straits Times paid tribute to the man, a longtime newspaper deliveryman who worked for Singapore Press Holdings.
Though retired, Oh had been helping out his brother, a registered newspaper vendor.
“We are sad to learn about the accident that resulted in the death of our newspaper vendor, Mr. Oh Swee Hai, who devoted more than 50 years of his life distributing our newspapers to our readers,” said Chua Wee Phon, executive vice-president of circulation at the media company.
The police are now urging eyewitnesses to come forward to assist them with the investigations.
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