Tragic incident: The Rompin bus-trailer crash claimed four victims.
ROMPIN: The late Hasnatul Adilah Hassan, 48, who was killed in a bus accident on Jalan Kuantan-Segamat, had time to ask about her son before she breathed her last at the scene of the incident.
The detail was recounted by her colleague Asmaniza Mohamad, 50, who described how Hasnatul, the deputy principal 1 of SK Jeram, Melaka, was found lying on her back outside the bus.
“The deceased had time to ask about her youngest son, who was also on the bus.
“I said her son was on the bus and a friend of ours told him to pray,” Asmaniza said when met at Muadzam Shah Hospital’s forensic medicine unit here yesterday.
Sharing the anxious moment, Asmaniza, known as Cikgu Za, said at the time of the incident, he was sleeping at the back of the bus but was jolted awake when he was hit by another passenger after the bus overturned.
“It was dark and the only sound was a crash. I tried to open the emergency door but couldn’t.
“Eventually, I managed to get out through the small door at the top of the bus,” he recounted.
After getting out, Asmaniza aided some friends before they were taken to Muadzam Shah Hospital for medical attention, reported Bernama.
Hasnatul’s son, Farouq, 12, was reportedly being treated in the yellow zone of Muadzam Shah Hospital.
The tragedy claimed the lives of four individuals, including Hasnatul, school employee Hamzah Ahmad, 60, and the bus’ second driver Hadi Asyraf Mad Idris, 29.The fourth victim, identified as Dahlia Ahmad, 52, had succumbed to injuries. Rompin district police chief DSP Nor Azman Yusof said the teacher died at 9.30pm while undergoing treatment at the Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital in Kuantan.
In the 1am incident, the bus carrying 39 passengers and two drivers overturned on the slope of the road after hitting a trailer loaded with iron rods. The bus was ferrying teachers and their children from Melaka to Terengganu for a benchmarking programme.
In Kepala Batas, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said the ministry is seeking a full report on the cause of the accident and the welfare of affected teachers and their families.
“On behalf of the ministry, I convey my condolences to the families of the victims involved. We are deeply saddened by the incident,” she said after launching Kelab Media Mutiara Pulau Pinang’s Family Day at a water theme park in Bertam.
Fadhlina also said the ministry will send counsellors to the school to provide psychosocial support to staff and pupils.
“I pray that all the injured teachers will recover soon and return to being active as usual and carry out what’s entrusted to them as educators,” she said on Facebook.
