Coach from S’pore to KL Skids Off Highway & Overturns; Driver Allegedly Investigated for Speeding

At 3.45am on 27 December, a coach en-route to Kuala Lumpur from Singapore skidded out of control on the 41.3km mark on Malaysia’s North-South Expressway. 

The vehicle containing 37 passengers had overturned while most of the passengers were still asleep, with three Singaporean passengers emerging with injuries. 

According to Shin Min Daily News, a firetruck and six firefighters were immediately dispatched to the accident site on the North-South Expressway for rescue operations. 

In an interview with The Straits Times, Renggam Fire and Rescue Department station chief Mohd Nizar Ma’mun said that the fire brigade had extricated two of the injured passengers, with the third injured individual being helped out of the vehicle by a fellow passenger.

Injured Passengers Reported Receiving Neck and Kneecap Injuries

The three injured Singaporean passengers included a female passenger in her 50s, a 25-year-old female passenger, and a 27-year-old male passenger.

All of them were sent to a hospital in Kluang, Johor for treatment after the incident. 

One female passenger suffered from a broken neck and the other female passenger suffered from unspecified minor injuries. The male passenger, Mr Jeremy Chua, told The Straits Times that he suffered a broken kneecap as a result of the accident.

Driver Lost Control Due to Rainy Conditions; Under Investigation for Speeding

In the Facebook Post released by the Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia, the coach involved in the accident was found to have a Singapore vehicle registration plate. The coach also allegedly belongs to a travel agency by the name “Cityline”. 

The driver of the coach had lost control of the bus due to heavy rain and “pitch black” conditions on the road, which resulted in it skidding towards the left of the road, where it had overturned and crashed into a grass patch. 

Shin Min Daily News reported that Malaysian police are investigating the 29-year-old driver for speeding.

Not The First Time An Accident Involving a Coach Has Occurred On The North-South Expressway

Luckily, the accident on 27 December did not result in any fatalities.

However, just a few months before, an LA Holidays bus collided with a car on the North-South Expressway in Nilai, Seremban, killing the Malaysian bus driver and an Indonesian passenger.

Three Singaporeans who were among the 19 passengers on the bus suffered from minor injuries during the accident.