Pedestrian taken to hospital after tree falls in Jurong

[UPDATE Oct 17]

The National Parks Board (NParks) said that they were alerted on Oct 15 at 5.25pm to a fallen tree incident involving a 3m girth Rain Tree (Samanea saman) at Jurong West Avenue 1 following heavy rain in the morning. 

The fallen tree was cleared by 8.13pm, and NParks said they carried out precautionary checks on the surrounding trees. 

A pedestrian was injured after she was pushed away from the falling tree by a passer-by and fell, NParks said.

"We are in touch with her to provide assistance," NParks added.

A pedestrian was taken to hospital after a tree collapsed along Jurong West Ave 1 on Tuesday (Oct 15) at about 5.10pm, Lianhe Zaobao reported.

The pedestrian, a woman in her 50s, was crossing the road when the tree fell.

The tree, which was approximately four storeys tall, had fallen on the road, cutting across multiple lanes and smashing into the road divider. A sign attached to a traffic light was also damaged in the process.

"There was another man with me and we found the woman who fell and was injured," a 40-year-old food deliveryman who wished to remain anonymous, told Zaobao.

"We quickly helped her to the side [of the road]," he recalled, adding that she suffered injuries to her face and knees.

"She looked terrified, but there were no visible injuries elsewhere on her body. When paramedics arrived, they sent her to the hospital for treatment."

Residents in the area told Zaobao that they had heard the sound of branches breaking apart before witnessing the tree topple over.

He Yonglun (transliteration), said that the woman didn't appear to have suffered severe injuries.

The 32-year-old freelancer added: "There are usually a lot of cars on this section of road. Fortunately, there were no cars passing by when the tree fell."

Clean-up of the area by NParks personnel was completed by 8.30pm, reported Zaobao.

According to 8world, the Land Transport Authority also replaced the damaged traffic light and road sides about an hour later. 

Responding to queries from AsiaOne, the Singapore Civil Defence Force said that they received a call for assistance along Jurong West Street 42 at around 5.25pm on Tuesday. 

They confirmed that one person was taken to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital.

ALSO READ: PUB issues island-wide flood risk alerts amid 'non-stop' rain

Editor's note: An earlier version of this article stated that the pedestrian was injured by a tree falling on her. This is incorrect. She was injured after she was pushed away from the falling tree by a member of the public and fell.

khooyihang@asiaone.com