G
General Veers
Guest
Sunday December 12, 2010
Students hurt in bus plunge
IPOH: A bus fetching vocational students and lecturers from a reunion skidded at the 304.5km of the North-South Expressway near Gua Tempurung and landed in a deep ditch. Three students were badly injured in the accident at about 6pm yesterday and were rushed to the Hospital Raja Perempuan Bainun here. The accident caused massive traffic jams along both sides of the expressway.
Scene of the tragedy: Fire and Rescue personnel helping the victims at the site of the accident Saturday. — Bernama
Ipoh Fire and Rescue Services chief Mohd Aminuddin Abdul Rahim said it was raining heavily when the bus, which was heading towards Kuala Lumpur, tried to overtake a school bus. It is believed that the brakes failed to work and the driver lost control of the vehicle.
The bus, which was ferrying 41 passengers, including 22 students, 14 lecturers and their family members, and four substitute drivers, landed on its side in the ditch. Most of them managed to crawl out from the bus and called for help. The students and lecturers, from Institute Kemahiran Mara Melaka, were on their way back from a reunion in Cameron Highlands during the incident.
Mohd Aminuddin said the department received a distress call at about 6.19pm and three fire engines with 13 personnel from Ipoh, Setapak and Gopeng were sent to the scene. That stretch of the expressway is considered a “black spot” for accidents. In July this year, a Toyota Alphard travelling north on the same stretch of road crashed and plunged into a 30m-deep ravine, killing five women.
