Saturday July 23, 2011

Two killed in highway crash

By SARBAN SINGH
newsdesk@thestar.com.my

SEREMBAN: A lorry driver and his attendant were killed when their vehicle ploughed into the rear of another lorry which was transporting brand new Proton vehicles at KM264.6 of the North-South Highway near here.

Driver M. Mayandi, 38, and B. Ravi, 23, were killed on the spot in the 6am incident yesterday due to massive head injuries.

A police spokesman said the lorry, transporting the eight Proton Personas, encountered a tyre malfunction, forcing its driver to stop the vehicle along the south-bound emergency lane, just before the Seremban toll plaza.

Wrecked: The Proton car carrier after being hit by the lorry in Seremban Friday.

Minutes later, the lorry driven by Mayandi, which was laden with rolls of steel wires crashed into the rear of the car carrier.

He said that Ravi was thrown out of the vehicle due to the impact while Mayandi was pinned to his seat in the mangled cabin of his lorry.

The victims were from Segamat and Simpang Renggam in Johor, respectively.

The crash caused a 30km traffic jam along the south-bound stretch as a few rolls of the steel wires and debris blocked traffic.

The damaged cars.

The attendant of the car-carrier, Mohd Izad Mohd Tap, 25, said he and the driver Mohd Zainal Bani 35, were on their way from Shah Alam to Segamat when their vehicle encountered a problem.

“We were in the midst of checking out the problem when we heard a loud crash at the rear. Both of us ran to safety and tried to find cover in a drain. Only then did we realise that another lorry had crashed into ours,” he said.

State traffic police chief ASP Abd Halil Hamzah said investigations were underway. The remains of the victims have been sent to the hospital for post-mortem before being released to their families.