Malaysian express bus overturns - killing dozen passengers, including the bus driver

A Malaysian express bus overturned on Monday, killing at least 19 passengers, including the bus driver in one of the worst traffic accidents in the country's history, police said.

Photo: Malaysian express bus overturns - killing dozen passengers, including the bus driver

Malaysian express bus overturns - killing dozen passengers, including the bus driver

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The 10 other people on the bus were hospitalized with various injuries, including three who are in intensive care, said Raja Musa Raja Razak, police chief of the area where the accident occurred in northern Malaysia.

"The impact of the accident ripped off the roof," Raja Musa told The Associated Press by telephone from the site in Bukit Gantang, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Kuala Lumpur.

"The front portion (of the bus) is mangled. The rest of the body is intact. But the seats (must have been) flying here and there, and there was a lot of blood everywhere," he said.

The driver was among the dead, Raja Musa said. Previous police and news reports erroneously said the driver was injured.

The 10 injured included two Vietnamese and one Nepali who worked in northern Malaysia, Raja Musa said.

National news agency Bernama said two Indonesians were among those killed, but Raja Musa said only one Indonesian had been identified.

"It is the worst traffic accident in the (modern) history of the nation," said Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy who visited the scene.

Chan's aide quoted him as saying the accident appears to have been caused by "human negligence." The aide declined to be named because he is not authorized to make public statements.

The cause of the accident was not immediately apparent, although local fire department spokesman Amirudin Kamarudin said there were no skid marks on the road, indicating the driver may have fallen asleep at the wheel.