Tanjong Pagar crash: Driver was speeding at 148kmh, exceeded drink-driving limit
SINGAPORE — The coroner's inquiry into the deaths of five men who were killed in a high profile car crash at Tanjong Pagar Road in February last year began on Thursday (9 June) with the court hearing that the driver of the BMW M4 had sped up to 148kmh.
A traffic police investigator told the court that Jonathan Long Junwei, 29, also had 86mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, above the 80mg legal driving limit, according to local media reports.
Long and his four passengers Teo Qi Xiang, 26; Elvin Tan Yong Hao, 28; Eugene Yap Zheng Min, 29; and Gary Wong Hong Chieh, 29; were pronounced dead at the scene in the early hours of 13 February. All had been drinking.
Footage of the crash which circulated online last year showed the car skidding along the road and slamming into the shophouse, before bursting into flames 15 seconds after impact.
A police investigator, citing eyewitnesses, on Thursday testified that Long was showing his new car at Tanjong Pagar Road to his friends, who had earlier gathered to celebrate Chinese New Year at a home in Ang Mo Kio.
At around 4am, the group went for supper at a Korean restaurant along Tanjong Pagar Road. Some of them later took turns to test drive Long's car in the area. Long himself got back behind the wheel when the other four men were inside the car.
The five men who perished in the accident were then current or former colleagues at Aviva Insurance.
After the crash, Long’s fiance Raybe Oh Siew Huey, 26, tried to help the victims to no avail. She was herself severely burnt.
The inquiry continues.
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