DRIVER, 11 FOREIGN WORKERS DIE IN CRASH
They were heading for MASKargo Complex when their bus plunged into storm drain
TWELVE people were killed when the bus they were travelling in plunged into a 10mdeep storm drain near the MASKargo Complex area here on Sunday night.
The remaining 31 passengers were injured, including 10 listed as critical, following the 11.10pm crash in Jalan KLIA S8.
The dead included Malaysian bus driver S. Suresh, 43. His passengers were all foreigners.
Suresh and eight foreigners died at the scene, while three died at separate hospitals.
KLIA police chief Assistant Commissioner Zulkifli Adamshah said the bus was transporting 43 foreigners, who were contract workers at the MASKargo Complex.
He said the bus was sending the workers to their workplace from their hostel in Nilai.
“The workers were supposed to clock in for their midnight shift,” he said, adding that those injured were sent to the Serdang, Putrajaya, Banting and Kajang hospitals.
Zulkifli said the operation to save the victims was assisted by the Fire and Rescue Department, Civil Defence Force, Health Department as well as MASKargo auxiliary policemen.
Selangor Traffic Enforcement and Investigation Department chief Superintendent Azman Shari’at said one of the victims died at Serdang Hospital while another two died at Putrajaya Hospital.
He said 13 victims had been sent to Serdang Hospital, 16 to Putrajaya Hospital, four to Banting Hospital and one to Kajang Hospital.
Up to press time, it is learnt that nine victims — five from Hospital Putrajaya and four from Hospital Serdang — had been discharged.
Zone Five (south Selangor) Fire and Rescue Department chief Mohd Fadhil Salleh said the department received an emergency call at 11.16pm.
“Upon arriving, we secured the crash site and stabilised the bus before extricating the trapped victims. We had to cut several parts of the wreckage. It took us about an hour to extricate all the victims using a hauling system as well as stretchers.”
The Health Department said 11 victims were in critical condition, while 14 were listed as “semi-critical”.
Health DirectorGeneral Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the Emergency Medical Coordinating Centre at Hospital Putrajaya formed a response team after receiving word of the accident.
“The Salak health clinic was the first of 15 units despatched to provide treatment at the accident site.”
This was followed by others from Putrajaya Hospital, Serdang Hospital, Nilai and Dengkil health clinics, and the KLIA quarters clinic. Dr Noor Hisham said five emergency response service units were also despatched to the scene from KLIA, Putrajaya, Bangi, Cyberjaya and Klang.