‘A good husband & father’: SMRT bus captain, 49, killed in crash while riding motorcycle home, says wife

He had just talked to his wife over WhatsApp at about 10am that morning on Nov. 4, telling her he would be home around 4pm to 5pm.

But at around 3:30pm, as he was riding his motorcycle home after work, he got into an accident with a bus and a lorry on the Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE), and later died at the hospital.

The 49-year-old Malaysian had been a bus captain at SMRT for nearly three years, his wife told Shin Min Daily News.

1ThirdMedia Movement, a non-governmental organisation, identified him as Mohd Fakhruzan bin Zakaria.

According to its Facebook posts, the organisation handled the burial arrangements and the transport of the deceased's body to his home in Johor Bahru.

Besides his wife, Fakhruzan also leaves behind three children. They have two sons aged 10 and 13, and a daughter aged 18.

The accident

According to Shin Min, the bus and lorry involved in the accident were not driving along the same lane at the time.

The bus allegedly rear-ended Fakhruzan, and when it happened, the lorry was about to change lanes.

Videos of the aftermath, shared online, show a motorcycle flipped on its side, and an individual lying near it with blood stains around him.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) conveyed Fakhruzan unconscious to Woodlands Hospital, where he later died.

A 50-year-old bus driver was arrested for negligent driving causing death.

A careful rider

Fakhruzan's 46-year-old wife learnt the tragic news from her husband's friend over the phone.

She was not clear about the details except that a bus had rear-ended Fakhruzan, according to his friend.

"He is usually very careful when riding his motorcycle," she told Shin Min. "I would always remind him to be careful."

Took care of his family

The widow, a housewife, shared that Fakhruzan used to work as a private-hire vehicle driver in Malaysia.

Hoping to earn more money to support his family, he decided to commute across the border and find a job in Singapore.

As an SMRT bus captain, he would alternate between morning and night shifts.

His wife described him as a good husband and father who was responsible and took good care of his family.

"Everything happened so suddenly," she said. "I can't even think about what to do with life now. I also need to talk to his siblings."

Burial arrangements

As she did not have a passport, Fakhruzan's wife could not travel to Singapore to claim her husband's body.

Fakhruzan's brother went to Singapore to collect the body and handle the necessary rites before the transport to Malaysia.

In an update on Nov. 5, 10:25pm, 1ThirdMedia Movement wrote on Facebook that the journey of bringing Fakhruzan back to his family has been completed.