Malaysia's 'worst bus crash' kills 20

KUALA LUMPUR, AUG 14th - TWENTY people, including an Indonesian, were killed yesterday in what was said to be one of the worst road accidents in Malaysia's history.

The Super Express bus, which had 27 passengers and two drivers on board, was travelling from Malacca to Butterworth in Penang when tragedy struck at around 4.30am on the North-South Expressway near Bukit Gantang town, about 20km from Taiping, Perak.

Among the dead was the bus driver, Mr Rohizan Abu Bakar, 38, from Kedah.
Police said yesterday that Mr Rohizan had 13 summonses and two arrest warrants for various traffic offences.

Also killed were Mr Teoh Kheng Song, 35, and his wife, factory hand Cheeng Chen Joo, 37, who was eight months pregnant. Mr Teoh, who worked in Kedah, had gone to his wife's work place in Malacca to accompany her home to give birth to their first child.

Initial investigations showed that the bus was moving downhill when it crashed into a road divider before it flipped over and landed in a 5m-deep ditch. This caused passengers to be either flung out of, or pinned to, the bus.

The impact of the crash was so great it ripped the roof off the red-coloured bus.

Nineteen people were killed on the spot. One person died in Taiping hospital, where nine other injured passengers were being treated, including a three-year-old boy who was in critical condition.

Another victim in the hospital's intensive care unit was the bus' co-driver, Mr P. Veeraman, 36, from Selangor.

Taiping Police Chief Assistant Commissioner Raja Musa Raja Razak told The Straits Times that the Indonesian killed was Mr Abu Bakar S. Ag from East Medan. The rest of the dead were Malaysians.

Among the survivors was Nepali Chharapati Ejam, the only passenger to escape with only a cut on his face and minor bruises on his feet.

Mr Ejam, who works as a factory supervisor in Penang, said he believed most of the passengers had been sound asleep when the crash took place. He recalled: 'It was very quiet. Then, suddenly I heard a loud bang and before I knew it, I was thrown from the back of the bus where I was seated, to the front.'

Two other foreigners injured were Vietnamese Ngu Yeh Hui Vinh and Quang Ngoi Hung.
Visiting the crash site yesterday, Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy said initial investigations showed that the crash was due to human error. 'It was the worst crash in the country's history' involving an express bus, Datuk Seri Chan said.

He added that investigators would look into whether the mandatory switching of drivers had taken place. Under the law, a bus driver travelling long distances must be relieved by another driver after two hours on the road.

The local fire department said there were no skid marks on the road, indicating that the driver may have fallen asleep at the wheel.

Commenting on the tragedy yesterday, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi blamed human error for the crash, saying that the road it was travelling on was well-maintained and was 'in first-class order'.

The bus left Malacca at 10.30pm on Sunday and had travelled over 400km when the crash took place.

Datuk Seri Chan said the ill-fated Super Express bus had been on the road for 20 years but passed a road-worthiness inspection in May. However, AC Raja Musa said the bus had received 19 summonses since 1991.

It was revealed that the bus company, Taiping-based Syarikat Kenderaan Bukit Gantang, did not have permits to ply the Malacca-Penang route. It was ordered to stop operations immediately so that the Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board can inspect its fleet of buses.