It was a Sunday evening at about 7pm and SBS bus captain Ong Shi Chuin was at the wheel of his SBS Service 400 bus on Marina Boulevard.
He was waiting for the traffic light to turn green.
Suddenly, he spotted a young girl running barefoot along the wide road which stretches over five lanes. She seemed to be running towards his bus.
He braked, opened the door, checked for traffic then dashed out and scooped her up and into his bus.
The girl’s father was frantic. As Mr Ong told CNA: “The father and domestic helper came to my bus amd pointed at the little and (he) said: ‘That’s my kid” before thanking me.”
Mr Ong’s quick thinking in rushing out to save the toddler from almost certain harm prompted waves of praise after SBS told the story in a post on its Facebook page on Tuesday.
The rescue happened in January but the passage of months has not stopped netizens calling Mr Ong a hero and heaping praise on him. That feel-good post has gone on to get shared widely.
The toddler had wandered away from a nearby playground and “was oblivious that she was in harm’s way” SBS’s post said. Mr Ong recalled in the post:
“When I stopped at the red traffic light and saw the girl running across the five-lane road, my only thought was that the girl was in danger. I immediately rushed out to carry her on board my bus before the traffic light turned green.”
SBS said: “Shi Chuin’s quick thinking and action saved the day for the girl and her family. What a hero he is! We are so proud of him.”
Many netizens agreed that he had indeed saved the day.
/TISG
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