I heard screeching of tyres – Pitas accident witness
Kanibongan Water Treatment Plant operator Zainudin Mohd Amin recalls hearing the screeching of tyres followed by a loud bang, and cries for help in the incident which claimed the lives of four school girls in Pitas around 6.30 am on Tuesday.
PITAS: Kanibongan Water Treatment Plant operator Zainudin Mohd Amin recalls hearing the screeching of tyres followed by a loud bang, and cries for help in the incident which occurred around 6.30 am on Tuesday.
Zainudin, 31, was among the witnesses to the mishap which claimed the lives of four female students and injured five male students of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Pitas 2.
“Following the commotion, I ran outside of the plant and saw that a multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) had skidded about 20 metres from the plant. Someone was crying for help and some of the victims were lying on the ground at the scene.
“I immediately contacted the police who arrived at the scene around 30 minutes later. I was in a state of panic and could not do anything,” he told Bernama at the scene yesterday.
Zainudin said the incident was witnessed by four individuals at the scene, including a stall owner who saw the driver losing control of the MPV, before skidding 10 metres from the stall.
Sweeta Kongkoyan, 18, Dayang Munisah Bte Exon, 18, Evi Elsie Jukirim, 18, and Rebecca Stacey Saimon, 16, were killed when the Toyota Avanza car they were travelling in with five of their schoolmates went into a ditch along Jalan Kanibong/Pitas around 6am.
The injured students were Mikhievinlee Lotijin, Aewinkafo Lawrence, Fairus Ejoy Marayau, Jaklin Johglin, and Elden Elio, all aged 18.
All of them were on their way to school.
District police chief Superintendent Mohd Izaan Abdullah said investigation the driver, who was one of the male students, allegedly lost control of the car after hitting a pothole. The car them skidded on the road and crashed into a ditch.
Three of the students died at the scene while one was pronounced dead while on the way to hospital.
Mohd Izaan said police investigation also revealed the driver had a valid driver’s license.