2 die in Sixth Avenue crashCar mounts kerb, hits tree and smashes into wall - before bursting into flames
By Teh Joo Lin
POLICE OFFICERS examining the burnt out wreck of the Mazda MX-5 sports convertible. -- PHOTOS: LIANHE WANBAO
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A SPORTS convertible burst into flames early yesterday morning after crashing into a concrete wall in Bukit Timah, killing the two young men inside.
Police said the bodies were so badly burnt that they have not been able to conclusively identify the two men.
The passenger is believed to be a 19-year-old foreigner who used to study at United World College. The driver is also said to be a foreign resident of about the same age.
At about 4am, the Mazda MX-5 two-seater slammed into the perimeter wall of a two-storey house along Sixth Avenue and caught fire. jolting the home's occupants out of their beds.
A 19-year-old undergraduate living in the house, who wanted to be known only as Alex, said he could see two-metre-tall flames from his bedroom window.
He raced to his neighbours' homes, raising the alarm in case the fire spread. 'We were worried that houses were going to burn down because the flames were so big,' he said.
The blasts even shook the front door of Matt Brown, 15, a student who lives about 50m away from the crash site.
He and his schoolmate Daniel were watching television when they heard loud 'pop' sounds.
'We thought someone was robbing a house with a gun, so we ran outside with golf clubs to see what was going on.'
Residents, many still in their pyjamas, ran out onto the street, some of them carrying small fire extinguishers.
But the cylinders were ineffective against the raging fire.
Firefighters who later doused the flames found the charred bodies of the two men in the front seats.
They are believed to have been heading to the McDonald's outlet in King Albert Park to meet friends.
After the Mazda climbed over a steep incline along Sixth Avenue, the driver appeared to have lost control of the car on the downward slope.
It skidded over 20m, mounted the kerb and struck a tree. The impact sent the car spinning into the wall.
It is not clear to whom the car belonged or if the driver had a licence or had been drinking.
But several hours after the accident, a Caucasian man and a woman who looked Chinese turned up at the mortuary to identify one of the bodies. They did not speak to reporters there.
Yesterday afternoon, young men and women visited the crash site, placing bouquets of lilies at the foot of the tree.
They declined to speak to reporters and stood with eyes closed in prayer before leaving the scene.
joolin@sph.com.sgsource :
STplease
slow down. drive safe. stay alive.
===============
DOUBLE TRAGEDY: Crash victims William Widjaja and Alexander Henry Davies had planned to meet their former schoolmates at King Albert Park early Saturday morning when the sports convertible (above) in which they were travelling burst into flames after crashing into a wall in Sixth Avenue. -- PHOTO: LIANHE WANBAO
Ex-schoolmates were going to meet friends
2 victims in early Saturday accident were both 19 and ex- United World College students
By Khushwant Singh
HE JOKED with his brother about his weight. The two also talked about new movies to catch. And just before Mr Alexander Henry Davies left home to meet some friends, he told his younger brother he would help him out in the morning.
That was the last time the brothers saw each other.
Mr Davies and his former schoolmate, Mr William Widjaja, died when the sports convertible in which they were travelling burst into flames after crashing into a wall in Sixth Avenue early Saturday morning.
The two 19-year-olds were identified yesterday.
Mr Davies' younger brother, Maximilian, recalled their last moments in a tribute posted online yesterday.
He said: 'He left the house with a smile on his face and he told me that he would help me in the morning.'
SAD GOODBYE
'It's ironic that the day it happened was the very day we were going to celebrate him leaving, and it also makes all the little plans I've made seem futile and insignificant.' - MAXIMILIAN DAVIES, in a tribute to his brother who died in the crash
'He always knew when I needed help...I wonder if he knew that it would be the last time we talked.'
Friends and former classmates of Briton Mr Davies from United World College (UWC), where Mr Widjaja, an Indonesian, had also studied, posted their memories of him online.
According to friends, Mr Widjaja, an undergraduate at the London School of Economics, had returned several days ago.
The two former schoolmates, who graduated from the UWC last year, had planned to meet other former schoolmates at King Albert Park early Saturday morning.
Mr Davies was about to leave for a university overseas and his brother wrote online: 'It's ironic that the day it happened was the very day we were going to celebrate him leaving, and it also makes all the little plans I've made seem futile and insignificant.'
The friends never got to meet.
At about 4am, along Sixth Avenue, less than 2km from their destination, the Mazda MX-5 convertible crashed and burst into flames.
Mr Widjaja was believed to be driving the car that friends say belonged to Mr Davies' father.
A former schoolmate living in the area thought he recognised the convertible and called the group waiting at the McDonald's outlet at King Albert Park to see if the duo had arrived.
They had not.
The news sparked a series of frantic phone calls. When attempts to reach the two young men on their cellphones failed, the group decided to go to the accident scene.
Even then, with the car and the two bodies so badly burnt, they could not be sure their two friends had been involved in an accident.
Yesterday, Mr Widjaja's parents, who flew here from Indonesia to identify his body, were too distraught to speak to the media.
A family friend told reporters a memorial service will held at the Bethany Church on the seventh floor of Orchard Towers at 7.30pm today.
Saturday's fatal crash was the second in two months involving a car that burst into flames on impact.
Just after midnight on July 13, a Toyota Altis caught fire after crashing into the railings at the Tanjong Katong slip road off the East Coast Parkway.
The driver, who was unconscious, was pulled out in the nick of time by passers-by.
Mechanics told The Straits Times that fires after collisions are the exception rather than the rule.
'The petrol tank is placed at the rear and is well protected to prevent leakage in the event of an accident,' said 51-year-old workshop manager Tan Choon Wee.
He said that, on average, about 10 cars catch fire each year. More often that not, they catch fire when moving in normal traffic.
'This can be due to a mechanical malfunction combined with an oil leakage,' he said.
'A car rarely catches fire after a minor collision. But if the car is totally wrecked, then the petrol tank will also be damaged and will pose a fire hazard,' he added.
khush@sph.com.sgsource :
STagain, please
slow down, drive safe. stay alive.
do not want to attend anyone's wake.
