SINGAPORE – A 41-year-old man has been arrested for suspected drink-driving after a multi-vehicle crash injured four pedestrians along Tanjong Pagar Road early on Thursday evening (Dec 7).

The police said in a statement that they were alerted to the accident – which involved a car, a taxi, a lorry and four pedestrians – at the junction of Tanjong Pagar Road and Gopeng Street at 6.29pm.

According to the police, the driver of the car, which looks like a Mercedes C180 sedan, was arrested for suspected drink-driving.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force added that the four pedestrians involved in the accident were taken conscious to the Singapore General Hospital.

Ms Brenda Har, who was near the scene of the accident, told TODAY that she heard a "loud bang and (some) commotion" and went over straightaway as she heard "a lot of screaming".

Among the casualties was a "badly injured" man who appeared to be around 60 to 70 years of age, she said.

Images and videos of the aftermath of the accident were widely circulated on social media on Thursday evening. They showed a road in front of Carlton City hotel damp with rain.

One video showed a man in a black suit sitting behind the steering wheel of the Mercedes looking dazed as paramedics tended to the casualties beside his car.

The front license plate of the Mercedes could be seen on the road along with other bits of debris. In front of the Mercedes was a red TransCab taxi, which appeared to have sustained damage to its rear.

In another image, passersby can be seen attending to three individuals on the ground.

When TODAY arrived at the scene later that evening, crumpled heaps of tissue paper and water bottles were still seen along the road.

A couple of road signs along the divider had been knocked down as a result of the accident. Some people were still gathered at the vicinity and had only dispersed when the Mercedes was towed away at around 8.40pm.

Police investigations are ongoing and it is currently unknown what the condition of the casualties are, or how the accident happened.

In July, the High Court set new sentencing guidelines for drink-driving cases involving injury or property damage. Drink drivers who damage property or injure someone should expect to serve time in jail, except in an exceptional category of cases.

The exception is when a drink driver causes slight physical injury or slight to moderate property damage and has low culpability, such as low blood alcohol level and no evidence of dangerous driving.

In explaining the need for deterrence, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon highlighted that the number of people jailed for drink driving had risen in recent years.

It has more than tripled from around 50 in 2014 to nearly 190 in 2016.