KOTA BARU – A tahfiz student was killed and 11 others were injured when the van they were travelling in crashed into a ditch on Jalan Lapangan Terbang Sultan Ismail Petra, Taman Bendahara, Pengkalan Chepa, near here at 11.32am today.
In the incident, the Ssangyong van was ferrying the tahfiz students on their way home from shopping for raya clothes at a nearby supermarket.
The victim, identified as Wan Ahmad Izzat Alauddin, 12, died at the scene.
The victim’s mother, Wan Noor Azilah Wan Sulaiman, 48, who lives in Kg Tapan, said that she found out about the accident through the tahfiz WhatsApp group, before rushing to the scene.
“When I arrived at the scene 20 minutes later, my heart sank when I saw that my son’s body had been covered, and I saw my son’s head was covered in blood,” she said when met by reporters at Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital Kubang Kerian here today.
Wan Nor Azilah said that the plan was for her to fetch her son tonight to celebrate Aidilfitri at her grandmother’s village in Felda Ciku 7, Gua Musang.
She said that Wan Ahmad Izzat was her only child, and the boy was excited to buy baju raya with his friends when he called her last night.
“I never thought that would be the last time I would be able to talk to him. I am very sad to lose my only child but accept it as fate,” she said.
She said that her son will be buried at the Felda Ciku 7 Muslim cemetery, Gua Musang.
Meanwhile, Pengkalan Chepa fire and rescue station chief Alam Nasut Ilias said that the team of firefighters arrived at the scene at 11.45am and found that one victim had died, while 11 other students and the van’s driver were injured.
All the injured victims were sent to Raja Perempuan Zainab Hospital II for treatment, while the deceased’s remains were sent to HUSM for post-mortem. – Bernama, April 18, 2023
