SAF Jeep Turn Turtle In Training Area
Friday, 11th May 2012
A Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) full-time National Service man, 3SG Tan Mou Sheng, dies after the Army Scout Jeep he was travelling with turn turtle in rough terrain. The training incident at Marsiling training area at 6:50am. 3SG Tan sitting in back seat of a scout jeep as part of an exercise when the driver lost control of the vehicle and the jeep overturned. He was found pinned under the vehicle. The three other soldiers in the jeep, including the driver, managed to escape without injury.
3SG Tan was sent to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital. Despite the best efforts by the surgical team he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at 1:56pm.
Following the incident, the commanders overseeing the exercise have been suspended. And at the same time, SAF has declared a safety time-out from today till 15 May 2012. During this period, all Army field training will be suspended. The objective of the safety time-out is to remind commanders, trainers and instructors on the safety system to ensure safety measures are in place and reiterate to commanders and servicemen that safety is also an individual responsibility. The last time SAF had a Time-Out was in 2008.
Photo Credit: Flickr.
The SAF Army Scout Jeep is a Mercedes Benz MB 290 GD (W461 Gelandewagen) with top opened. Mercedes Benz G-class vehicle is used in soft-top truck configuration and is known as a 1.5-tonner or simply "MB" by the service men.
The Mercedes-Benz G-Class or G-Wagen, short for Geländewagen (or cross-country vehicle), is a four-wheel drive sport utility vehicle (SUV) produced by Steyr-Puch in Austria for Mercedes-Benz. The G-wagen is characterized by its boxy styling and body-on-frame construction. It utilizes three fully locking differentials, one of the few vehicles to have such a feature.
The W461 is the military models, i.e. the non-public marked, custom built model. All special ordered and military models use the 461 designation.