A Singaporean woman was put into an induced coma after she was seriously injured in a road accident near the wine resort town of Margaret River, about 280km south of Perth in Western Australia.
Miss Heidi Ang, 25, was driving a rented car when it was involved in an accident with a four-wheel-drive last Friday afternoon.
Also in the car were her friends — Mr Lim Zi Jie, who sat next to her in the front, and Miss Huang Huifang, who was in the back seat. They escaped with minor injuries.
Miss Huang told The New Paper on Wednesday that firefighters had to rescue Miss Ang who was trapped in the driver’s seat.
She was then flown to Royal Perth Hospital by a rescue helicopter in a serious condition, a Western Australia Police spokesman said.
Miss Ang’s older brother, Mr Wilmer Ang, said she had sustained three broken ribs and brain damage and was put into an induced coma until Sunday and has since made progress in her recovery.
Miss Huang regretted that their holiday had ended in tragic circumstances, but she was also relieved that all of them survived the crash.
She was also optimistic about Miss Ang recovery, saying: “I am sure she will be recover quickly. She is a strong girl.”
There was frustration for Scoot passengers again after a flight set to depart from Singapore to Perth on Saturday (Jun 20) evening was delayed by more than 21 hours. This is the airline’s second flight delay in three days.
Scoot said in a statement: “(Flight TZ8) was delayed at Changi Airport due to a technical issue and we regret that the delay has inconvenienced our guests.”
Dear Scoot Community, Scoot flight TZ8 to Perth was originally scheduled to depart from Singapore at 1210hrs on 20…
Videos of the scene at Changi Airport on Saturday evening show angry passengers demanding compensation while a ground handler admits to not being able to do anything, as “we are guided by Scoot”. These were allegedly taken after the ground handler announced that the flight had been rescheduled to 9.50am on Sunday morning.
Channel NewsAsia understands that before the announcement was made, passengers had had to board and disembark the plane several times.
In a letter addressed to Scoot that was seen by Channel NewsAsia, a passenger called “Cole” said they were asked to board and leave twice, saying the airline offered up six different excuses for the delays.
“First it was that the plane was delayed, then came that the tyre was worn out, then came the pilot being unable to fly because you had stretched over the time limit,” wrote Cole.
The passenger also complained that the airline had merely offered travel vouchers in compensation, and eventually asked Singaporeans to go home.
“We have already paid way more than what we budgeted for, just to stay in Changi Airport for over 10 hours for meals, and to make things worse, we had to pay two-way cab fare, which is already about $50, and you are giving us a voucher to subject us to this trouble all over again?” Cole wrote.
Perth resident William Forde, another passenger who shared photos and a video with Channel NewsAsia, said the flight had been rescheduled a total of seven times and throughout the ordeal, many passengers had stuck together: “The duty of care provided and inhumanity of this business model is alarming, but the way people came together to protest as one was inspiring and unheard of in Singapore”.
Said Mr Forde: “We were refused temporary accommodation even though many of us had not eaten, and by then the flight had been delayed for close to 21 hours.
“Some of us requested that the elderly and those with children be given a flight first, but we were rejected at every turn by a Scoot rep. As a result of our protest we were only given a S$10 meal voucher and a letter of disruption, which had details of the next flight out. But we were told these were still ‘tentative’”.
Two viewers also called the Channel NewsAsia hotline on the issue, with one saying that the last time they were asked to board the flight to Perth at 7.45pm, they were “sent off again” and “told the flight would not be taking off and would be cancelled”.
“The management just walked away without providing hotel accommodation to transit passengers and Singaporeans were asked to go home,” said the caller. “They also said the decision was final – take it or leave it. People were unhappy.”
The flight finally departed for Perth at around 10.40am on Sunday. Earlier, another flight scheduled to fly from Hong Kong to Singapore on Friday was grounded for more than 24 hours before taking off on Saturday evening.
At 10pm Singapore time on Monday, March 24, 2014, Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak said that based on data on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, it was assumed that the plane crashed in the southern Indian Ocean. Here is the text of Mr Najib’s press conference in full:
“This evening I was briefed by representatives from the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB). They informed me that Inmarsat, the UK company that provided the satellite data which indicated the northern and southern corridors, has been performing further calculations on the data. Using a type of analysis never before used in an investigation of this sort, they have been able to shed more light on MH370’s flight path.
Based on their new analysis, Inmarsat and the AAIB have concluded that MH370 flew along the southern corridor, and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth.
This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites. It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, according to this new data, flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean.
We will be holding a press conference tomorrow with further details. In the meantime, we wanted to inform you of this new development at the earliest opportunity. We share this information out of a commitment to openness and respect for the families, two principles which have guided this investigation.
Malaysia Airlines have already spoken to the families of the passengers and crew to inform them of this development. For them, the past few weeks have been heartbreaking; I know this news must be harder still. I urge the media to respect their privacy, and to allow them the space they need at this difficult time.”
