10 KILLED, TWO INJURED IN BUS TRAGEDY NEAR MALAYSIA'S NORTHWEST CITY OF IPOH

IPOH (Malaysia), Dec 26 (Bernama) -- Ten passengers were killed and two
injured, one seriously, after a double-decker Sani Express bus skidded and hit
the road divider at Km272.8 of the North-South Expressway as it was heading
north, about 8km after the Ipoh Selatan toll plaza, early Saturday.

The 12 people had been seated on the lower tier of the bus in the 1am
accident, state traffic police chief Supt Wan Abdullah Ishak said.

The two drivers and the 36 other passengers were unhurt, he added.

Wan Abdullah said those killed in the accident were Shaharin Mohd Nor, 61,
and his wife Supiah Adam, 46, both from Taman Setia, Klang, Selangor; Musa alias
Ismail Abdullah, 64, from Gurun, Kedah; Mohd Shukri Mohd Ali, 22, of Sungai
Besar, Selangor; Noor Jismi Noordin, 25, from Kangar, Perlis.

Mohd Bilal Osman, 22, from Sungai Besar, Selangor; Ng Kah Kit, 14, and his
sister Ng Poh Ngoh, 23, from Alor Star, Kedah; Sharifah Raheel Al-Junid Syed
Harun, 21, and her sister Sharifah Hasanah, 15, of Sungai Petani, Kedah.


Wan Abdullah told reporters the injured passengers were a soldier, Md Razip
Fadzir, 43, and Siti Munira Hashim, 30, from Langgar, Kedah. He said Md Razip
was seriously injured.

Md Razip had been admitted to the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital here, he
said, adding Siti Munira had received outpatient treatment at the hospital for
facial injuries. He also said that the 10 bodies had also been taken there.

Wan Abdullah said the bus departed Klang at 9pm Dec 25 for Kangar with 48
passengers.

"The bus skidded onto the road barrier to the left and veered to the divider
on the right before coming to a halt," he said.

He said the metal barrier on the left side of the road pierced into the bus,
and this was probably what caused the deaths and injury.

Wan Abdullah said police had detained the driver who was behind the wheel at
the time of the accident.

It is understood that the driver had taken over the wheel after the bus had
stopped at the Simpang Pulai layby just before Ipoh.

One of the uninjured passengers, Marziana Mahmud, 24, claimed that the
driver seemed to be drowsy just before the accident took place.

"The bus was unstable, veering to the left and right before the accident,"
claimed the passenger who was seated in a front seat on the upper deck.

Today's accident is a major one involving an express bus on the North-South
Expressway in Perak following that on Aug 13, 2007 when 20 people were killed
and nine injured after an express bus skidded and plunged into a ditch at Km229
of the highway at Bukit Gantang near Taiping.

-- BERNAMA