Aug 27, 2007
SIXTH AVENUE CRASH
Ex-schoolmates were going to meet friends
2 victims in early Saturday accident were both 19 and ex- United
World College students
By Khushwant Singh
DOUBLE TRAGEDY:
Crash victims William Widjaja and Alexander Henry Davies had
planned to meet their former schoolmates at King Albert Park early
Saturday morning when the sports convertible (above) in which they
were travelling burst into flames after crashing into a wall in
Sixth Avenue. -- LIANHE WANBAO
More photos
HE JOKED with his brother about his weight. The two also talked
about new movies to catch. And just before Mr Alexander Henry
Davies left home to meet some friends, he told his younger brother
he would help him out in the morning.
That was the last time the brothers saw each other.
Mr Davies and his former schoolmate, Mr William Widjaja, died when
the sports convertible in which they were travelling burst into
flames after crashing into a wall in Sixth Avenue early Saturday
morning.
The two 19-year-olds were identified yesterday.
Mr Davies' younger brother, Maximilian, recalled their last moments
in a tribute posted online yesterday.
He said: 'He left the house with a smile on his face and he told me
that he would help me in the morning.'
'He always knew when I needed help...I wonder if he knew that it
would be the last time we talked.'
Friends and former classmates of Briton Mr Davies from United World
College (UWC), where Mr Widjaja, an Indonesian, had also studied,
posted their memories of him online.
According to friends, Mr Widjaja, an undergraduate at the London
School of Economics, had returned several days ago.
The two former schoolmates, who graduated from the UWC last year,
had planned to meet other former schoolmates at King Albert Park
early Saturday morning.
Mr Davies was about to leave for a university overseas and his
brother wrote online: 'It's ironic that the day it happened was the
very day we were going to celebrate him leaving, and it also makes
all the little plans I've made seem futile and
insignificant.'
The friends never got to meet.
At about 4am, along Sixth Avenue, less than 2km from their
destination, the Mazda MX-5 convertible crashed and burst into
flames.
Mr Widjaja was believed to be driving the car that friends say
belonged to Mr Davies' father.
A former schoolmate living in the area thought he recognised the
convertible and called the group waiting at the McDonald's outlet
at King Albert Park to see if the duo had arrived.
They had not.
The news sparked a series of frantic phone calls. When attempts to
reach the two young men on their cellphones failed, the group
decided to go to the accident scene.
Even then, with the car and the two bodies so badly burnt, they
could not be sure their two friends had been involved in an
accident.
Yesterday, Mr Widjaja's parents, who flew here from Indonesia to
identify his body, were too distraught to speak to the media.
A family friend told reporters a memorial service will held at the
Bethany Church on the seventh floor of Orchard Towers at 7.30pm
today.
Saturday's fatal crash was the second in two months involving a car
that burst into flames on impact.
Just after midnight on July 13, a Toyota Altis caught fire after
crashing into the railings at the Tanjong Katong slip road off the
East Coast Parkway.
The driver, who was unconscious, was pulled out in the nick of time
by passers-by.
Mechanics told The Straits Times that fires after collisions are
the exception rather than the rule.
'The petrol tank is placed at the rear and is well protected to
prevent leakage in the event of an accident,' said 51-year-old
workshop manager Tan Choon Wee.
He said that, on average, about 10 cars catch fire each year. More
often that not, they catch fire when moving in normal
traffic.
'This can be due to a mechanical malfunction combined with an oil
leakage,' he said.
'A car rarely catches fire after a minor collision. But if the car
is totally wrecked, then the petrol tank will also be damaged and
will pose a fire hazard,' he added.
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SAD GOODBYE
'It's ironic that the day it happened was the very day we were
going to celebrate him leaving, and it also makes all the little
plans I've made seem futile and insignificant.' - MAXIMILIAN
DAVIES, in a tribute to his brother who died in the crash
Copyright © 2007 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.
