SINGAPORE — A lorry driver who was trapped in his seat after an accident in Jurong East on Friday (May 21) morning had to be extricated and taken to hospital.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said in a Facebook post that the accident involving a lorry and a van happened at the junction of Toh Guan Road and Toh Guan Road East.

The police told TODAY that the accident involved two men aged 25 and 26.

SCDF said that the impact of the accident caused the lorry’s cabin to be “crushed inwards, pinning the driver in the seat, with both his legs severely trapped at the floor area near the accelerator and brake pedals”.

It was alerted to the accident at about 10.15am and emergency responders from the Jurong and Clementi Fire stations were first dispatched to the scene. Its elite Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (Dart) was also mobilised because of the intricacy of the rescue operation.

Within the confined space inside the lorry, the rescuers “manoeuvred delicately” and used a “slew of hydraulic rescue equipment to cut through the crushed cabin to access the trapped driver”, it added.

“A paramedic was also actively monitoring the driver’s vital signs throughout the rescue operation.

“The entire rescue operation took almost an hour. The lorry driver was conscious throughout the operation and was (taken) to National University Hospital.”

The driver of the van had self-evacuated after the accident and was assessed by a paramedic before he was taken to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital.

Police investigations are ongoing.