REMBAU: Twelve people, including three women, were killed and more than 50 others injured in an accident involving two buses,three cars and a van at Km223 of the North-South Expressway, near the Pedas toll plaza, yesterday.
A police spokesman said the accident occurred at 6.50pm when a Delima Express bus, heading from Johor Baru to Kuala Lumpur, was believed to have skidded before crashing into the highway guardrail.
The bus ended up in the southbound lane where it crashed into a Toyota Hiace van.
A Welfare Department bus, a Perodua Myvi, a Honda City and a Honda Accord then crashed into the express bus.
The spokesman said the Welfare Department bus was carrying 40 retired members of the armed forces and their wives.
The bus driver, however, managed to steer his vehicle to avoid a more serious impact.
“The bodies of the victims were all over the expressway and police had difficulty determining whether they were from the Delima Express bus or the other vehicles. ”
The accident victims were sent to the Malacca, Alor Gajah, Jasin, Tuanku Jaafar and Tampin hospitals.
One of those affected, Md Razel Sarmin, 38, the driver of the Honda City, said he was on the fast lane of the expressway heading to Pontian in Johor from Kuala Lumpur when he saw the Delima Express bus hurtling into his path from the opposite side of the expressway.
“The bus crashed into the Toyota Hiace van which spinned several times. I managed to avoid the bus, but my car grazed the back of the van.
“My seven family members and I in the car then stopped at the side of the expressway. We saw bodies all over the road.
“I saw the driver of the van hanging from the driver’s side window and the Delima Express bus was blocking all three lanes of the highway heading to Alor Gajah.”
Another witness, Abdul Hamid Hasan, 55, an ex-serviceman from Taman Rambai Jaya in Malacca, who was on the Welfare Department bus and sitting in a front row seat, said he was rudely awakened when the bus driver applied the emergency brakes.
“I opened my eyes and was shocked to see an express bus blocking our path and our bus driver trying to avoid it.
“Our bus slightly hit the back of the express bus.”
Three of the ex-servicemen’s wives , including one who is pregnant, were injured and they were rushed to hospital.
Three fire engines from the Rembau, Tampin and Alor Gajah stations were sent to the scene.
At least eight ambulances took the injured to hospital.
The accident caused massive traffic jams on both sides of the expressway.
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