Oh no, not again
Another tree falls, narrowly missing passer-by by few seconds
By Mindy Tan
May 25, 2007
HAD she walked past the tree a few seconds later, she would have
been crushed.
Miss Balavenda (left) escaped death by a few seconds when the tree
(above) fell just after she passed under it. -- Pictures: JONATHAN
CHOO
Miss Balavenda's heart was still thumping half an hour after her
narrow escape.
She had taken the day off as she was moving to a flat in Block 1,
from another block nearby.
At about 4.30pm, as she was pushing a trolley full of belongings
along the footpath near Block 1, Dover Road, the eight storey-tall
Angsana tree suddenly came crashing down.
It fell across Dover Rise, blocking the footpath and much of the
two-lane road. Fortunately, according to a police spokesman, no one
was injured.
By 5pm, National Parks Board maintenance contractors had arrived
with chain-saws.
'I am still very scared. It just missed me, if not my life would
have been taken,' said Miss Balavenda, 29, a hospital environment
service worker from India, who is planning to get married next
January.
Miss Balavenda (left) escaped death by a few seconds when the tree
(above) fell just after she passed under it. -- Pictures: JONATHAN
CHOO
'I am supposed to return home to see my mother in December. I am
definitely going to the temple tomorrow,' she added.
The bride-to-be, who has been working here for four years, tried to
call her Singaporean boyfriend, but could not reach him
immediately.
At the time the tree fell, there were no other pedestrians around,
and no cars on the road.
Local residents also said there was no strong wind at the
time.
However, the tree trunk appeared to be ant-infested.
