KUALA LUMPUR: Charging points in express buses are not subjected to any safety inspection and are categorised as an accessory under the Road Transport Act 1987, says Puspakom chief executive officer Mahmood Razak Bahman.
He said that although these charging points known as ports or sockets were never checked, the first fatal case while charging will be taken seriously.
“These charging points have never been subjected to any vehicle inspection.
“The Transport Ministry has created a special task force – with the Road Transport Department (JPJ), Land Public Transport Agency (Apad), Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research, Puspakom and Sirim – to investigate the case with the deputy secretary-general of land transport as the committee chair.
“Apad has suspended the bus in question while JPJ will be conducting a technical audit of the vehicle to identify the possible causes of electrocution.
“With our experience, Puspakom will play its role in the task force, that targets to come out with an incident report and recommendations in due course.
“We will not speculate on the way forward by the authorities with respect to the charging points. We will comply with any requirements for inspection as we have for the last 30 years,” said Mahmood in a statement yesterday.
On Saturday, an 18-year-old youth was found unresponsive in his seat on the express bus at Penang Sentral at about 6pm.
The incident is said to have happened after the victim suffered electrocution while charging his mobile phone on the bus.
Meanwhile, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said a review on vehicle safety inspection may be carried out following the death of the teenager.
He said the review on safety in regards to a vehicle’s electrical system will depend on the findings of the special task force.
“We have to establish the facts first to determine whether using the USB was the cause.
“That is why we set up the task force to determine the cause of the incident,” he told reporters after visiting the PETRONAS Cochrane Perkasa station yesterday.
Loke said it is too early to pinpoint the exact cause as the bus in which the incident occurred had yet to be fully inspected.
“We will establish the cause of the incident and will review the safety measures from there,” he said.
On Sunday, Loke announced the setting up of the special task force to probe the incident.
The task force has been given two weeks to complete the probe.
