20 Die, Nine Injured In Express Bus Crash

FATAL TRIP… Fire and Rescue personnel assisted by policemen loading up 19 dead bodies onto a truck, in what is believed to be one of the country's worst traffic accidents. As at 5pm today, 20 people who were on board the northbound express bus are reported dead while nine others are injured, two of them critically. A police spokesman said the ill-fated bus was travelling from Melaka to Butterworth when it skidded while descending a hill, and crashed into a railing on the left of the road before plunging into a five-metre deep drain.

TAIPING, Aug 13 (Bernama) -- Twenty people were killed and nine others injured in what is regarded as the country's worst express bus crash, which occurred at Km 229 of the North-South Expressway in Bukit Gantang near here today.The bus, with a driver and co-driver and 27 passengers travelling from Melaka to Butterworth in Penang, was said to have been going down an incline of the highway at about 4.30 am when it crashed through the railing on the side of the road and plunged into a ditch five metres below.

The driver of the bus, Rohizan Abu Bakar, 38, was among the dead. He was from Taman Seri Petaling in Kulim, Kedah. Also killed was an Indonesian national, H. Abu Bakar, who was from Medan, Sumatra.An unidentified three-year-old child was critically injured and has been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Taiping Hospital. Also among the injured are two Vietnamese nationals and a Nepali.Taiping police chief ACP Raja Musa Raja Razak told reporters that of the dead, only 11, all male, have been identified so far. The nine others, seven of whom are female, have yet to be identified because identification papers were strewn about at the scene of the accident, he said.

Besides the bus driver and the Indonesian national, the others who died at the scene of the accident have been identified as T. Krishnan, 46, of Taman Haji Muslim in Kuala Ketil, Kedah; Fadliz Ahmad, 22, of Jalan Penaga, Taman Maju in Jasin, Melaka; Josli Arshad, 22, of Jalan Dang Merdu in Jembatan Duyong, Melaka;Nazri Noordin, 35, of Desa Baiduri in Bandar Baru Ayer Itam, Penang; Pang Tee Min, 58, of Jalan Ong Kim Wee, Melaka; Mohd Yazid Md Yusoh, 23, of Jalan Koklam Air Utama of Phase 4, Taman Maju in Jasin, Melaka; Md Basri of Kampung Pulai Darat in Merlimau, Melaka; and Kamis Said, 62, of Batu 22 1/2 Pasir Gembor, Tanjung Bidara in Masjid Tanah, Melaka.One passenger, Shahril Efendi, 22, of Alor Star, died at Taiping Hospital at 5 pm.Besides the three-year-old child, the co-driver of the bus, P. Veeraman, 36, of Taman Sri Merbau in Sepang, Selangor, was also critically injured and is in the ICU of Taiping Hospital.The two Vietnamese nationals have also been sent to Taiping Hospital. They have been identified as Quang Ngoi Hung and Ngu Yeh Hui Vinh, 27. Also admitted to the hospital are Mohd Fauzi Hassan, 27; Zurina Rashid, 23; Mohd Zahidi Che Ahmad, 22; and Siew Ken Meng (male), 21.The Nepali, Chatrapati Eyam, 24, was the only passenger who was slightly injured and was allowed to leave the hospital after outpatient treatment.

Raja Musa said the high death toll resulted from the body of the bus being badly smashed and the roof ripped off, which caused several of the passengers to be flung out and others to be trapped in what remained of the vehicle.He said Fire and Rescue personnel who rushed to the scene removed some of the injured passengers, administered first aid and sent them to Taiping Hospital, about 20 km from the scene of the accident.

They had to use a crane to winch up the wreckage to remove the trapped bodies, he said.Taiping Fire Station Officer Mazlan Zainal said it took the fire and rescue personnel about three hours to remove the bodies from the bus.Mazlan said fire and rescue personnel from the Taiping and Kuala Kangsar stations arrived at the scene at 4.50 am.He said the injured were sent to Taiping Hospital in ambulances.PLUS, the toll expressway operator, closed the left lane of the highway to facilitate the rescue operation.

"This is the worst accident in the nation's history," Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy told reporters after going to the scene of the accident and calling at Taiping Hospital.In November 2003, fourteen people were killed and 28 others injured when two buses collided along Jalan Kuala Lipis-Merapoh in Pahang.Chan said a preliminary investigation indicated human negligence to be the cause of the accident.

"A thorough investigation has begun, involving all departments and agencies, such as the police, Fire and Rescue Department and JPJ (Road Transport Department)," he said.He also said that a probe would be conducted to determine the state of fitness of the driver, looking into such aspects as fatigue, drowsiness and use of drugs.It would also take into consideration the structure of the bus and the design of the road, he added.Chan said the ill-fated bus was registered in 1987 and was owned by Syarikat Kenderaan Bukit Gantang Sdn Bhd of Taiping."The bus has been in use for 20 years. It was last inspected in May and received the approval of Puspakom (the computerised vehicle inspection centre)," he said.

Chan said the bus had left Melaka at about 10.30 pm yesterday and had already covered about 400 kilometres. The wreckage of the vehicle has been towed to the Taiping district police station."The bus had a driver and a co-driver. We will find out whether a change of drivers was made in keeping with the regulation requiring a switch after two hours of driving," he said.Chan said he had informed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of the accident."The prime minister has ordered immediate measures to be taken to enhance road safety in the country," he added.

-- BERNAMA