A 13-year-old girl managed to walk away unharmed after accidentally reversing a van into a large drain.
According to Lianhe Wanbao, the accident occurred at Blk 40 Telok Blangah Rise on Wednesday (June 23) afternoon.
A 15-year-old named Rania whom Wanbao spoke to said that the van belonged to her uncle. He had asked her younger sister to retrieve an item from the van as he was busy at the time.
Image source: iStock
However, for reasons unknown, the sister then passed the key to a close friend, who’s not identified. The friend, aged 13, often hung out and played together with the siblings.
According to Rania, the friend is believed to have started the engine and mistakenly engaged the van in reverse gear before stepping on the accelerator.
The van then lurched backwards and rolled down a four- to five-metre slope, reported Wanbao. It crashed through a railing before getting wedged in the ditch.
When reporters got to the scene of the accident, which occurred at 3.24pm, two tow trucks were attempting to lift the van out of the drain. It was only later when a third tow truck arrived at about 7pm that the van was successfully “rescued”.
Image source: Lianhe Wanbao
Rania heard that when the van suddenly reversed, the girl fell backwards, knocking her glasses off her face. After the van came to a stop, the girl managed to crawl out unhurt.
After the accident, Rania said that the friend and her sister were accompanied by family members as they went to lodge a police report.
The owner of the van, Kumar, 40, expressed helplessness when interviewed by Wanbao.
“They are all children, so I can’t really say anything,” he said. “I knew about the accident after receiving a call from the police at three-something.”
However, he added that he is just thankful that the kids were unhurt in the accident.
The delivery driver told the Chinese evening daily that he had rented the van for work, which would be affected due to the accident. He is not sure how much he would have to pay for the damages incurred either.
The van’s rear end appeared to have suffered the brunt of the impact, with some damage done to the van’s right door as well.
Police are currently investigating the incident.
This article was first published by AsiaOne and republished on theAsianparent with permission.
Lead image source from Lianhe Wanbao.
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