CW Accident by Jin Hao (unedited)

Ben earned a living by delivering LPG (Liquidified Petroleum Gas) to homes. It was a rainy day and Ben was as usual, driving his lorry. Suddenly, his cell phone rang. He answered it and did not notice that a tree had been uprooted and was about to collapse. Ben drove his lorry slower as he did want to be in an accident.

The tree at that time collapsed on the lorry, and pieces of glass cut Ben. He swerved the lorry and that caused it to fall on its side. Tanks of LPG were thrown on the road. Ben’s lorry started to leak fuel, and if it touched any of the LPG tanks, the whole lorry would explode.

Passers-by ran and tried to extricate Ben from the lorry. They eventually called the SCDF (Singapore Civil Defence Force) for help. The sirens reverberated through the air and the firemen quickly jumped out. They realised that by turning the lorry back on its wheels was a difficult procedure as if the gas tanks exploded in the process of turning the lorry upright, the lorry might explode.

The firefighters then evacuated everyone to a safe distance. They then used crowbars and chainsaws to cut open the door. Realising that Ben’s foot was stuck under the clutch and the driver’s seat was on the other side, the firefighters put a oxygen mask so he could breathe with more ease.

The eight-men crew the debated on what to do. They thought of using a chainsaw to saw away the clutch, but it would harm Ben’s leg and he might have to be wheelchair-bound for the rest of his life.

Finally, they decided that one of the firemen was to squat beside Ben. Another was to go behind the driver’s seat and tried to lower Ben’s seat so they could make the rescue easier. The captain was going to free Ben and then pass him to another fireman.

It was a success ! But their joy was not for long. Ben was rescued, but when the captain tried to get out of the lorry, his vest was caught against the steering wheel. Just as he freed himself, the lorry exploded in flames. The captain was dead.

When Ben woke up, he saw a stack of newspapers on the table beside him. Taking it and reading the front page article, he soon found out that the captain that rescued him was dead.

Tears fell down Ben’s cheeks as he saw the captain’s face on the newspaper. And he would never forget how the captain gambled with his own life for his.