Malaysia's 'worst bus crash' kills 20Aug 14, 2007Malaysia's 'worst bus crash' kills 20Human error blamed for crash on North-South ExpresswayBy Chow Kum HorKUALA LUMPUR - 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.
"It looks serious. So many ambulances. One ambulance after another came and went, ferrying the injured to hospital," logistics manager Lee said after he sent photos of an accident at about 8.15am today (23 August) along the Pan-Island Expressway.The SCDF told STOMP that so far, it has 14 casualties.Mr Lee, 36, took these photos near an overhead bridge at Bedok Reservoir View at about 9.30am."The accident happened along the PIE near Bedok," he told STOMP."The lorry had turned turtle. It appeared to be transporting many foreign workers."I saw so many ambulances. Within five minutes alone, there were three ambulances that came and picked up the injured," he said."The jam for traffic heading towards Changi Airport was massive," he added.STOMP contacted the Police, which confirmed that the accident happened at about 8.15am. It will be giving the details of the accident later.The SCDF told STOMP that it was alerted about the accident at 8.16am. "So far, I can only say that there are 14 casualties," a spokesman told STOMP.STOMP is updating this story as new information comes in. Come back for the latest.
By Teh Joo LinPOLICE OFFICERS examining the burnt out wreck of the Mazda MX-5 sports convertible. -- PHOTOS: LIANHE WANBAO View more photosA SPORTS convertible burst into flames early yesterday morning after crashing into a concrete wall in Bukit Timah, killing the two young men inside.Police said the bodies were so badly burnt that they have not been able to conclusively identify the two men.The passenger is believed to be a 19-year-old foreigner who used to study at United World College. The driver is also said to be a foreign resident of about the same age.At about 4am, the Mazda MX-5 two-seater slammed into the perimeter wall of a two-storey house along Sixth Avenue and caught fire. jolting the home's occupants out of their beds.A 19-year-old undergraduate living in the house, who wanted to be known only as Alex, said he could see two-metre-tall flames from his bedroom window.He raced to his neighbours' homes, raising the alarm in case the fire spread. 'We were worried that houses were going to burn down because the flames were so big,' he said.The blasts even shook the front door of Matt Brown, 15, a student who lives about 50m away from the crash site.He and his schoolmate Daniel were watching television when they heard loud 'pop' sounds.'We thought someone was robbing a house with a gun, so we ran outside with golf clubs to see what was going on.'Residents, many still in their pyjamas, ran out onto the street, some of them carrying small fire extinguishers.But the cylinders were ineffective against the raging fire.Firefighters who later doused the flames found the charred bodies of the two men in the front seats.They are believed to have been heading to the McDonald's outlet in King Albert Park to meet friends.After the Mazda climbed over a steep incline along Sixth Avenue, the driver appeared to have lost control of the car on the downward slope.It skidded over 20m, mounted the kerb and struck a tree. The impact sent the car spinning into the wall.It is not clear to whom the car belonged or if the driver had a licence or had been drinking.But several hours after the accident, a Caucasian man and a woman who looked Chinese turned up at the mortuary to identify one of the bodies. They did not speak to reporters there.Yesterday afternoon, young men and women visited the crash site, placing bouquets of lilies at the foot of the tree.They declined to speak to reporters and stood with eyes closed in prayer before leaving the scene.joolin@sph.com.sg
DOUBLE TRAGEDY: Crash victims William Widjaja and Alexander Henry Davies had planned to meet their former schoolmates at King Albert Park early Saturday morning when the sports convertible (above) in which they were travelling burst into flames after crashing into a wall in Sixth Avenue. -- PHOTO: LIANHE WANBAO
Ex-schoolmates were going to meet friends2 victims in early Saturday accident were both 19 and ex- United World College studentsBy Khushwant SinghHE JOKED with his brother about his weight. The two also talked about new movies to catch. And just before Mr Alexander Henry Davies left home to meet some friends, he told his younger brother he would help him out in the morning.That was the last time the brothers saw each other.Mr Davies and his former schoolmate, Mr William Widjaja, died when the sports convertible in which they were travelling burst into flames after crashing into a wall in Sixth Avenue early Saturday morning.The two 19-year-olds were identified yesterday.Mr Davies' younger brother, Maximilian, recalled their last moments in a tribute posted online yesterday.He said: 'He left the house with a smile on his face and he told me that he would help me in the morning.'SAD GOODBYE'It's ironic that the day it happened was the very day we were going to celebrate him leaving, and it also makes all the little plans I've made seem futile and insignificant.' - MAXIMILIAN DAVIES, in a tribute to his brother who died in the crash'He always knew when I needed help...I wonder if he knew that it would be the last time we talked.'Friends and former classmates of Briton Mr Davies from United World College (UWC), where Mr Widjaja, an Indonesian, had also studied, posted their memories of him online.According to friends, Mr Widjaja, an undergraduate at the London School of Economics, had returned several days ago.The two former schoolmates, who graduated from the UWC last year, had planned to meet other former schoolmates at King Albert Park early Saturday morning.Mr Davies was about to leave for a university overseas and his brother wrote online: 'It's ironic that the day it happened was the very day we were going to celebrate him leaving, and it also makes all the little plans I've made seem futile and insignificant.'The friends never got to meet.At about 4am, along Sixth Avenue, less than 2km from their destination, the Mazda MX-5 convertible crashed and burst into flames.Mr Widjaja was believed to be driving the car that friends say belonged to Mr Davies' father.A former schoolmate living in the area thought he recognised the convertible and called the group waiting at the McDonald's outlet at King Albert Park to see if the duo had arrived.They had not.The news sparked a series of frantic phone calls. When attempts to reach the two young men on their cellphones failed, the group decided to go to the accident scene.Even then, with the car and the two bodies so badly burnt, they could not be sure their two friends had been involved in an accident.Yesterday, Mr Widjaja's parents, who flew here from Indonesia to identify his body, were too distraught to speak to the media.A family friend told reporters a memorial service will held at the Bethany Church on the seventh floor of Orchard Towers at 7.30pm today.Saturday's fatal crash was the second in two months involving a car that burst into flames on impact.Just after midnight on July 13, a Toyota Altis caught fire after crashing into the railings at the Tanjong Katong slip road off the East Coast Parkway.The driver, who was unconscious, was pulled out in the nick of time by passers-by.Mechanics told The Straits Times that fires after collisions are the exception rather than the rule.'The petrol tank is placed at the rear and is well protected to prevent leakage in the event of an accident,' said 51-year-old workshop manager Tan Choon Wee.He said that, on average, about 10 cars catch fire each year. More often that not, they catch fire when moving in normal traffic.'This can be due to a mechanical malfunction combined with an oil leakage,' he said.'A car rarely catches fire after a minor collision. But if the car is totally wrecked, then the petrol tank will also be damaged and will pose a fire hazard,' he added.khush@sph.com.sg
Two men died in a burning car along Sixth Avenue at about 4am on Saturday (25 August). STOMPer Tony Hew, who saw the car burst into flames, said: "There was no chance for anyone in the car.""Car went off the road at Sixth Avenue, hit a tree before landing in themonsoon drain alongside it."It burst into flames almost immediately and there was no chance for anyone in the car," the STOMPer said in an email at 11am today.STOMP contacted the Police, which said the vehicle hit the boundary wall of a housing unit along Sixth Avenue, in the direction of Holland Road.The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said one man was found trapped in the driver seat and the other in the front passenger seat when rescuers arrived at the scene within seven minutes of a call about a car on fire.It said the two men were pronounced dead at 4.35am.It sent this photo.The SCDF said it received a call about a car on fire at 4.02am."The SCDF responded with two fire bikes, one fire engine and one ambulance to a car fire along Sixth Avenue, towards Bukit Timah," it said at about 11am today."Upon arrival at the incident site at 4.09am, SCDF firefighters saw a car engulfed in flames and proceeded immediately to extinguish the fire."The fire was swiftly extinguished by SCDF within 5 minutes using 1 water jet and 2 impulse guns."SCDF firefighters found 2 male casualties trapped in the driver seat and the front passenger seat."They were extricated within 15 minutes. They were pronounced dead at scene by SCDF Paramedic at 4.35am."
SEI25 August 2007 · 07:02 PMmy best friend died in that crash... because of a stupid taxi stopped on the road he had to swerve out of the way... and this thing about them being there in 7 minutes... thats bull!%**... they took over half an hour to get there after the call to the police...
codename425 August 2007 · 07:41 PM quote:Originally posted by Elysium7: The driver of the car was one of my best friends, and the passenger was another school friend. I am shocked and very pissed off that Stomp actually has the guts to post pictures of the wreckage and the car burning. No respect at all He was speeding and couldnt brake in time. dont go and blame the taxi. If your fren is a good driver, he will know what is safe distance and what is "not speeding"ask your fren to rest in peace tonight.
spec27 August 2007 · 12:14 AM quote:Originally posted by LazerLordz: Put it this way, there's tons of caucasians and MX-5s in the Bukit Timah area. Not to mention other drivers who drive in a similar way. Lastly, I wouldn't trust the press entirely. Whatever. 2 lifes gone due to one stupid mistake. Nothing can make them come back to life. Let it be.Let this be a lesson for those who think they are God's gift to the racing fraternity on public roads. You know who you are.RIP.
MX-5 hor - one of the MOST stable car (as rated by top gear)
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Topic: Accident Crash Revisit 2.0 (Read 55973 times)
