WEB DESK: A bus carrying university students back to their campus smashed into a minivan in northern Malaysia on Monday, killing at least 15 people.
Thirteen victims died at the scene near the town of Gerik, on the busy East-West Highway near the Thai border, while two died in hospital.
The accident is the deadliest in more than a decade on Malaysia’s hazardous roads and came as students were returning to school after an Islamic public holiday over the weekend. “It looked like the bus had lost control and hit the (minivan) from behind,” Perak State Police Chief Hisam Nordin said, based on initial investigations.
Images from the scene taken by the fire and rescue department showed a green bus overturned on its right side with a smashed rear end cover, while the red minivan had slid into a ditch, with its windows blown out.
“Some victims managed to get out on their own, some victims were thrown out while others were still (trapped) in the bus,” the Perak state disaster management authority said in a statement.
Rescuers had to use a hydraulic cutter to free people from the bus. The death toll included 14 students from the Sultan Idris Education University (UPSI), while the last victim was a bus attendant, the emergency services said.
Thirty-three others were injured, with seven in critical condition taken to hospital, it added.Police chief Hisam later said some of the injured were discharged. The number of injured still in hospital was not known.Most of the victims were aged between 21 and 23.
