Two people lost their lives and 16 others sustained injuries on Thursday when a tour bus collided with two lorries in southern Malaysia, according to local media reports. The crash occurred near Ayer Hitam, around 250 kilometres southeast of Kuala Lumpur, and marks the second major bus-related incident on Malaysian roads in less than a month.
The tour bus was involved in a collision with a Volvo lorry and a tanker truck, said Mohamad Shamin Mohamed Salikin, chief of the Ayer Hitam fire and rescue department.
“Emergency crews discovered two men trapped inside the bus and confirmed them deceased at the scene,” he told the national news agency Bernama.
The victims, both Indonesian nationals, were pronounced dead at the site of the crash. Sixteen other individuals, including the driver of the bus, were taken to the hospital for treatment, while another 28 passengers escaped injury.
Authorities have yet to determine the exact cause of the accident, which follows a deadly crash last month in northern Malaysia that claimed the lives of 15 university students after their bus overturned following a collision with a minivan.
Malaysia has one of the highest rates of traffic fatalities in the region, with an average of 18 deaths per day on its roads, according to official data.
Last month’s tragedy has prompted renewed efforts by transport officials to enforce seatbelt use on long-distance buses in an effort to improve road safety.
