A MOTHER, out on a morning walk with her two children, pushed her teenage daughter and toddler son to safety when she saw an out-of-control lorry veering towards them at Toa Payoh on Friday.

But she was hit herself and is fighting for her life now in Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

The housewife in her 40s, identified only as Madam Shanti, was taking a leisurely stroll with her eldest daughter, Pratheepa, 15, and three-year-old son along Lorong 8 - near their flat in Block 255 - when a container truck and a lorry laden with vegetables collided into each other at about 9.45 am.

The impact sent the lorry skidding across the road where the three pedestrians were walking.

Instinctively, Madam Shanti pushed her daughter and son away from the path of the runaway lorry. But it was too late for her to avoid the lorry, which hit her and sent her flying into the air. She landed on the pavement a few metres away, bleeding profusely.

She was rushed to Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) and underwent emergency surgery. Her son suffered a fractured hip when he fell and was taken to Kandang Kerbau Hospital.

A distraught Pratheepa told The Straits Times at the TTSH: 'It was a nightmarish sight seeing my mum being flung up into the air.'

'She did not think about her own safety when she pushed us to safety. I am very worried about her.'

Pratheepa said she has another sister, Nithia, 13, who was in school when the accident happened.

The container truck driver was unhurt but the lorry driver suffered minor injuries and was taken to TTSH.