Nine killed in van-lorry crash
TAPAH: Nine plantation workers, eight of them women, were killed when their van collided headon with a lorry transporting ice along Jalan Air Kuning-Mambang Diawan near here early yesterday, according to police.
All the victims are locals, Tapah Police chief Supt Som Sak Din Keliau said.
He said all the women were plantation workers while the man was the driver of the van.
Initial investigations showed that the accident happened when the lorry driver, aged 22, lost control when arriving at a bend at the stretch resulting in the lorry careening into the opposite lane and colliding with the van, the police chief said.
“The lorry from Mambang Di Awam heading to Air Kuning collided with the van head on. The force of the impact resulted in all the passengers and the 32year-old driver of the van to die at the scene,” he said when met by reporters at the Tapah Hospital.
Som Sak said the injured lorry driver was rushed to the Kampar Hospital before being transferred to the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital in Ipoh.
The investigations also showed that neither of the drivers had any records for traffic offences, added Som Sak.
In another fatal accident, two people died and two others sustained light injuries after the vehicle they were travelling in, crashed into a bus stop near Mersing Industrial Training Institute at KM15 Jalan Jemaluang-Mersing, Johor Bahru on Friday.
Mersing District Police chief DSP Cyril Edward Nuing said the two deceased in the incident which happened at 6.05pm had been identified as Salma @ Noraini Adam, 37, who was driving the Toyota Hilux, and Tunku Alang Reza Tunku Ibrahim, 31, who was sitting in the backseat.
“Tunku Alang Reza died at the scene and his remains have been sent to the forensic unit at Mersing Hospital while Salma died while being treated at the emergency unit of the hospital,” he said in a statement yesterday.
He said two other women aged 33 and 44, who suffered injuries were being treated at the same hospital.
“The families of the deceased have been contacted, and the case is being investigated under Section 41(1) of the Road Transport Act 1987,” he said. — Bernama