A 30-year-old woman died after being trapped under a bus at Singapore’s Queen Street Bus Terminal on Tuesday evening (Oct. 6), with police arresting the 32-year-old male bus driver in connection with the fatal accident.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and Singapore Police Force said they were alerted to a road traffic accident at the junction of Queen Street and Arab Street in Bugis at about 7pm.
Emergency responders found the woman trapped beneath the bus. SCDF said she was freed using hydraulic rescue equipment but was pronounced dead at the scene by an SCDF paramedic.
Police said the bus driver was arrested for driving without due care and attention causing death. Investigations are ongoing.
An arrest is not a finding of guilt, and the circumstances leading to the collision have not been publicly established.
Fatal accident disrupts cross-border bus services
The accident occurred at Queen Street Bus Terminal, a key departure point for services between Singapore and Johor Bahru.
The terminal is served by several cross-border operators, including SBS Transit Service 170, Causeway Link Service CW2 and the Singapore-Johore Express.
Following the accident, SBS Transit said its Service 170 was delayed and would temporarily not operate from Queen Street Bus Terminal.
Passengers boarding the service were directed to a temporary shelter near the junction of Arab Street and Queen Street instead.
Those travelling towards the terminal were also advised to alight at the bus stop in front of the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes on Ophir Road, with SBS Transit staff deployed to assist commuters.
The terminal was temporarily closed while emergency and investigative operations were carried out.
Terminal and Service 170 resume operations
SBS Transit later said that Service 170 had resumed normal operations at around 11.50pm on Tuesday.
The Queen Street terminal was also reopened at about the same time.
The disruption lasted several hours, affecting commuters travelling between Singapore and Johor Bahru during the evening peak period.
The terminal is particularly busy with travellers heading across the Causeway, making the temporary closure a significant disruption for passengers using the cross-border services.
Causeway Link confirms bus was involved
Causeway Link, which operates the CW2 service between Queen Street and Johor Bahru, confirmed that one of its buses was involved in the accident.
The operator expressed its condolences to the woman’s family and said it was cooperating with the authorities’ investigation.
The company said it was also providing assistance to those affected by the incident but declined to comment further on the circumstances while investigations remain ongoing.
At this stage, authorities have not publicly identified the woman or released further details about her circumstances.
They have also not disclosed how the collision occurred or whether the woman was boarding, alighting, walking near the bus or otherwise at the terminal when the accident happened.
Police investigation continues
The bus driver faces investigation for driving without due care and attention causing death.
The offence relates to the manner in which a vehicle is driven and does not, by itself, establish that the driver intended to cause harm.
Police investigations are continuing, and further details may emerge as officers establish the sequence of events leading to the woman’s death.
Images shared online showed multiple SCDF and police vehicles at the scene, along with a blue police tent near a bus.
Other images showed firefighters working around the underside of the vehicle, where the woman had been trapped, while emergency personnel used equipment to carry out the rescue.
The images provide a glimpse of the emergency response but do not establish how the accident occurred.
Queen Street remains an important travel link
The fatal incident highlights the importance of Queen Street Bus Terminal as one of Singapore’s established links to Johor Bahru.
The terminal serves commuters, workers and travellers making frequent cross-border journeys between Singapore and Malaysia.
With investigations now underway, authorities are expected to examine the circumstances of the collision, including the movements of the bus and pedestrian immediately before the accident.
For now, police have confirmed only that the driver was arrested for driving without due care and attention causing death.
The investigation will determine whether further action is warranted.
The woman’s death marks a tragic end to what had been an ordinary evening at one of Singapore’s busiest cross-border transport points, while commuters saw services return to normal later that night.
