Published: Sunday December 7, 2008 MYT 12:07:00 PM
Updated: Sunday December 7, 2008 MYT 7:11:32 PM

Ten die, 19 injured in bus crash near Tangkak (Update)

By HAMDAN RAJA ABDULLAH

MUAR: A nine-year-old girl was among 10 people killed when their express bus skidded and crashed into a tree along the North-South Expressway near Tangkak.

Most of the passengers, some were going to Johor Baru and Singapore, and some returning from Perak, were asleep when the incident happened.

According to a survivor Goh Sie Kiat, 31, who was going to Singapore to work, the bus skidded and did not know how it happened.

He said after the bus hit a tree, everything seemed to happen very fast and when the bus stopped skidding, he climbed out and saw bus roof had been torn off.

He said he saw a boy, Tan Seng Hai, 12, who suffered some injuries on the legs and hand, trapped inside the wrecked bus and pulled the boy out.

Police have identified four of the dead victims, including a mother and daughter, while the others were being traced to locate their next of kin.

The dead are Foo Pei Sin, 21, Khor Mooi Hui, 49, Fuh Mooi Lang, 57, and nine-year-old Chan Jia Yit.

ACP Mohammed Nasir said police were still waiting for the next of kin or relatives of the other six dead victims to come and claim their bodies.

He said the incident happened along Km146.5 of the expressway near Tangkak at about 2am when the bus heading to Singapore from Pantai Remis, in Perak skidded.

He said initial investigation showed the bus had lost control, skidded and crashed against a tree before overturning and sliding for several meters.

Seven of the passengers died on the spot while the other three died at the Sultanah Fatimah Specialist Hospital in Muar.

Those injured, including the bus driver and co-driver, were being warded for treatment, he told reporters at the Muar police station on Sunday.

ACP Mohammed Nasir said police would investigate the cause of the incident and urged eye-witnesses to contact the Muar police to assist investigation.

He said the youngest casualty, Chan Jia Yit, was aged nine, while the eldest was Foo Mooi Lang, 57, and bodies of four victims had been claimed by their next of kin.

He said police would also question the driver and co-driver of the bus as soon as they were discharged from the Sultanah Fatimah Specialist Hospital.

Another survivor Tan Siew Moi, 43, said she and her two children, Liow Chia Cheng, 16, and Liow Wan Jun, 12, were also asleep when the incident happened.

She said he children, both sat near far from the driver, suffered injuries on the heads and her daughter Wan Jun suffered a broken leg when she was pinned under a seat.

Meanwhile, Foo Mui Langs husband, Goh Seng Ren, from Taman Seri Putri in Johor Baru, said he received the bad news at about 3am and to the Muar hospital.

He said his wife and daughter had gone to Perak about three days ago to attend a relatives wedding and they were expected to return early Sunday.

He said he still found it hard to accept that his wife and daughter were gone.

Goh engaged a monk to recite prayers for his wife and daughter at the Muar hospital mortuary before taking their bodies back to Johor Baru at around noon on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Sultanah Fatimah Specialist Hospital director Dr Ahmad Pauzi Abu said the hospital had to recall six medical specialists and 10 medical officers to attend to the injured victims at the hospital when they arrived. He said three of the victims, who suffered light injuries, were given outpatient treatment at the Tangkak Hospital and one at the Muar hospital.

Meanwhile, Meera Vijayan reported from Johor Baru, that Plus Expressway Berhad Corporate Communications general manager Khalilah Datuk Mohd Talha said that this was the first time such a major accident had occurred at the location.

“We have dispatched a technical team to the site to further study the cause of the accident,” she told The Star.