At least 15 folks had been killed in northern Malaysia on Monday when a bus transporting college college students again to campus collided with a minivan, based on police and rescue officers.
Thirteen victims died on the scene close to the city of Gerik, on the busy East-West Highway close to the Thai border, whereas two died within the hospital.
The accident is the deadliest in additional than a decade on Malaysia’s hazardous roads and got here as college students had been returning to highschool after an Islamic public vacation over the weekend.
“It looked like the bus had lost control and hit the (minivan) from behind,” Perak State Police Chief Hisam Nordin stated, based mostly on preliminary investigations.
Images from the scene taken by the fireplace and rescue division confirmed a inexperienced bus overturned on its proper facet with a smashed rear finish cowl, whereas the crimson minivan had slid right into a ditch, with its home windows blown out.
“Some victims managed to get out on their own, some victims were thrown out while others were still (trapped) in the bus,” the Perak state catastrophe administration authority stated in an announcement.
Rescuers had to make use of a hydraulic cutter to free folks from the bus.
The loss of life toll included 14 college students from the Sultan Idris Education University (UPSI), whereas the final sufferer was a bus attendant, the emergency providers stated.
Thirty-three others had been injured, with seven in essential situation taken to the hospital, it added.
Police chief Hisam later stated a few of the injured had been discharged. The variety of injured nonetheless within the hospital was not recognized.
Most of the victims had been aged between 21 and 23. They had been travelling from the city of Jerteh in northeast Malaysia when the accident occurred shortly after 1 a.m. (5 p.m. GMT on Sunday).
“The journey was fine until I suddenly smelled something like burnt rubber or brakes,” stated Wan Muhammad Hanifah Wan Azman, 22, an animation pupil at UPSI.
“The bus then sped up and swerved to avoid a car ahead before flipping over,” Wan Muhammad Hanifah informed the New Straits Times each day.
Malaysia has a excessive fee of visitors accidents, with a mean of 18 folks killed on the roads every day, based on authorities figures.
The East-West Highway, which connects the 2 seaboards of the Malaysian peninsula, is suffering from accidents, with frequent collisions between animals and automobiles.
Malaysia’s worst bus catastrophe occurred in 2013 when an specific bus plunged down a ravine northeast of Kuala Lumpur, killing 37.
Source: www.dailysabah.com