IPOH – Fourteen passengers and the driver were injured when an express bus skidded and veered onto the road shoulder before landing on its side in a drain at Km265 of the North-South Expressway (southbound) after the Menora tunnel early today, reported Bernama.
Meru fire chief Shahrudi Muhamad Halil said the station was alerted to the incident, involving 12 men and three women, at 2.22am.
He said a team of 16 firefighters from the Meru and Ipoh stations were deployed to the scene.
Two victims were seriously hurt, he said.
He said those with injuries were sent to Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital.
The New Straits Times quoted police as saying the 39-year-old driver is believed to have nodded off before the crash.
District deputy police chief Mohamad Nordin Abdullah said two passengers – a 40-year-old Indonesian man and a 33-year-old woman – sustained severe head and hip injuries.
“The driver, who hails from Alor Star, Kedah, sustained light injuries on the leg.”
He said the driver has 19 summonses for various traffic offences, three of which are for the bus in question.
The case is being investigated under Section 44(1) of the Road Transport Act 1987 for driving under the influence of liquor or drugs. – The Vibes, April 4, 2021