20 KILLED IN M'SIA'S 'WORST EVER' BUS ACCIDENT Bus hits road barrier, plunges into ditch
IN what has been described as Malaysia's worst ever road accident, 20 people lay dead and many others injured in a badly wrecked bus.
Twisted metal: Rescue workers with the overturned bus. At the bottom right of the picture is the rock the bus reportedly also hit.
But one image will forever be etched in the memories of rescuers: A young child, badly injured but still alive, cradled in the lap of his dead mother.
Their bus, bound for Butterworth from Malacca, had overturned on the North-South Expressway near Taiping after hitting a road barrier at 4.30am yesterday.
Reports said the vehicle then plunged into a 5m-deep ditch and slammed into a huge boulder. The impact was said to have been the reason for the high casualty count.
A 3-year-old boy was found alivein his mother's lap, but both his parents were among the 20 fatalities.
The boy, who has yet to be identified, was one of seven victims sent to Taiping Hospital.
He is said to be in critical condition.
Taiping fire and rescue officer Mazlan Zainol told Bernama that when his team of rescuers arrived at about 4.50am, all the victims were still in the Super Ekspres bus.
He said: 'The child who was injured was with his mother, who had head wounds as a result of being wedged between the seat and therock.'
'HEART-RENDING'
A fireman, who did not want to be named, said that the sight of the woman, with her head twisted to the back, still cradling her child, was heart-rending.
Some of the injured in hospital.
Mr Mazlan said the team from the Kuala Kangsar Fire and Rescue Station was the first to reach the scene.
They said that the roof of the bus was lying on the ground about 5m from the chassis.
Taiping police chief Raja Musa Raja Razak told AP: 'The impact of the accident ripped off the roof. The front portion (of the bus) is mangled. The rest of the body is intact.
'But the seats (must have been) flying here and there, and there was a lot of blood everywhere.'
Most of the 27 passengers were asleep when the accident occurred.
Many were flung out through the gaping roof and others were pinned inside when the sides of the vehicle were crushed on impact, reported Bernama.
Some bodies could only be extricated in a three-hour operation after a crane pulled the bus upright.
The horrific sight prompted Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy, who visited the scene, to dub it 'the worst traffic accident in the (modern) history of the nation'.
Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has also called for immediate measures to be taken to enhance road safety in the country.
He blamed human error for the crash, saying that the road was well-maintained and 'in first-class order'.
The driver, Mr Rohizan Abu Bakar, 38, was among the dead, while his co-driver, Mr P Veeraman, 36, was critically injured and is in intensivecare.
DRIVER FAULT?
As there were no skid marks on the road, it is suspected that the driver could have fallen asleep at the wheel.
The police said that Mr Rohizan had racked up 13 summonses and two arrest warrants for various traffic offences in his 16 years of driving.
Raja Musa said the weather was fineand that the downhill slope was not steep.
The bus, which has been in service for 20 years, had just passed a vehicle inspection in May.
One survivor, Mr Mohd Zahidi Che Ahmad, 22, said he had boarded the bus in Malacca.
He said it had been going very fast throughout the journey.
'I was worried because the bus was being driven so fast, but as a passenger, what could I do?
'Until the accident, I was sleeping. I woke up when the bus plunged into the ditch,' he said from his bed in Taiping Hospital.
Mr Mohd Zahidi, who had face and body injuries, said the crash was a horrifying experience and he could hear passengers, including the driver, shouting and crying for help.
'One passenger opened his palms to pray for safety, but I don't know what happened to him after the bus nose-dived.'
Another passenger, Mr Chatrapati Eyam, 24, a Nepalese, said: 'I was thrown to the front and I could hear people screaming for help.'
He was the only passenger who wasslightly injured and was allowed to leave the hospital after out patient treatment.
There were also Indonesian and Vietnamese passengers. One Indonesian died and two Vietnamese were injured.
Said Mr Ejam, who works in a Penang furniture factory: 'When the bus turned over and plunged, the passengers shouted for help and some were already injured and crying.
'I was thrown to the front from my seat and people were falling all over, so I couldn't picture what the whole situation was like. All I could do was pray to God I would besafe.'
Less lucky was Ms Siti Sophiya Ismail, 23, who had just started as an executive with car manufacturer Perodua in Alor Star.
She was thrilled when the company sent her to Malacca for a course, but before she could spend her first pay cheque, her life was cut short in theaccident.
Her mother, Madam Som Ahmad, 48, said she was to have received her degree from the Malaysian International Muslim University on 26 Aug.
taken :
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/st...38743,00.html? 
Victims were flung through roof 
Linear Mode
