On 13 February 2021, Singapore was rocked by a horrific accident at Tanjong Pagar.
A BMW with five people on board slammed into the front of a shophouse along Tanjong Pagar Road and burst into flames.
All five men died, and one woman was sent to SGH with burn injuries and is in critical condition.
Throughout the last few days, netizens have been speculating on what could’ve led to the crash.
Now, someone has spoken out.
Driver Was Allegedly Giving Friends a Joyride
It’s since been established that the driver of the car, a BMW M4 Coupe, was Jonathan Long, who reportedly worked for Aviva Financial Advisers as a senior financial services manager and had graduated from RMIT University at the SIM Global Education campus with an economics and finance degree.
The four men in the car were his friends, with one of them being Eugene Yap, the co-founder of homegrown bubble tea chain Bober Tea.
In addition, the lady who was injured after failing to save the five men was Jonathan’s fiancée.
The police has said that preliminary investigations showed that the car has sped along Tanjong Pagar Road before colliding into a shophouse and catching fire.
The Traffic Police is also exploring further enforcement operations in Tanjong Pagar to ramp up road safety in the vicinity, and will also consider the use of road-calming measures, such as road humps and speed regulating strips, which will help slow traffic down.
But how did it happen in the first place?
According to people who spoke to Lianhe Wanbao, Jonathan was the owner of the car.
A friend of Jonathan who wanted to remain anonymous said that Jonathan had bought the car just a few months ago, and the second-hand car cost over $200k.
A new car can cost up to $423K.
Unlike other mainstream BMW cars, the M4 is a high-performance sportscar, with the M standing for “motorsport”.
Before the incident, the group had been to a Korean restaurant to celebrate Chinese New Year.
This friend has believed that Jonathan had wanted to give them a joyride, which explains why there were four passengers in the coupe that would’ve been a tad too stuffy.
According to residents in the area, they saw a white BMW circling the area a few times, and it eventually lost control.
More Measures Welcomed After Fatal Accident
Saturday’s accident wasn’t just alarming because of the nature of the crash; the number of fatalities in the accident is also the highest number of people killed in a single traffic accident in the past decade.
Speaking to The Straits Times, the traffic police said that enforcement operations are stepped up around the festive season, “consistent with past years”.
MPs for the area said they welcomed extra safety measures to prevent speeding, as residents had complained of loud noises made by speeding cars that had disturbed their sleep.
What Happened
At around 5.30am on Saturday, residents in the area heard the roar of a car’s engine.
The driver of the BMW is believed to have sped just before the accident occurred, as videos of a BMW M4 coupe speeding along Tanjong Pagar Road were uploaded online.
Not long after, eyewitnesses say the car slammed into a vacant shophouse previously occupied by Five Oars Coffee Roasters and burst into flames.
A man could be seen crying hysterically at the scene, begging for his friends to be rescued from the burning car.
Firefighters quickly arrived on the scene, but it was too late. All five men on board were pronounced dead at the scene.
Family members of the occupants of the car were later spotted at the accident site, called in to identify the bodies of the victims.
Girlfriend Tried to Save Boyfriend From Burning Car
The driver’s girlfriend, who was not in the car at the time of the accident, rushed to the burning car to try and save her boyfriend.
Because of this heroic act, she suffered severe burns on about 80% of her body and is now in critical condition in the intensive care unit.
The 26-year-old is a former Singapore Airlines air stewardess and also sang getai occasionally.
The couple is believed to have applied for a flat recently.
Featured Image: YouTube (SG Road Vigilante)
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