Witnesses have said a coach lost control just before it collided with a truck on a highway in Malaysia on Sunday, pushing steel rods through the windscreen of the bus. Three people were killed and 14 injured.
Two of the victims were named as Lai Moon Ching, a 25-year-old Malaysian woman with permanent residency in Singapore, and Lim Siew Kee, a 61-year-old woman who was also from Malaysia. The third victim, a Chinese man in his 40s, has not yet been identified.
All of those killed were thrown from the vehicle while it was still moving and suffered head injuries. One died at the scene and the other two en route to hospitals.
The 28-year-old truck driver, Rubanthiran Vasu, was unhurt, while the 54-year-old bus driver, identified as Zamris Abdul Aziz, sustained a minor injury. Twelve of the victims were taken to Sultanah Fatimah Specialist Hospital in Muar and the remaining five to Batu Pahat’s Sultanah Nora Ismail Hospital.
The coach was travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore with two drivers and 25 passengers when it struck the rear end of the truck at high speed at about 2:30am, The Straits Times said. Rods being carried on the truck came loose and pierced the windscreen and left side of the bus, Malaysia’s China Press reported.
Police said most of the passengers on board the coach were Malaysian, but there were also four Singaporeans and several Indonesian domestic workers.