MUAR, 7 Dec 2008: The death toll in the accident involving an express bus at Kilometre 146.8, on the North-South Expressway near Pagoh early this morning rose to 10 following the death of a nine-year-old girl this afternoon.
The girl died while receiving treatment at the Sultanah Fatimah Specialist Hospital, here about 12.25pm.
It is learnt that the girl’s mother and cousin were also killed in the accident, but their identity had yet to be ascertained.
Earlier in the accident that occurred at about 2am, five women and four men died while another 19 were injured when the bus overturned at KM 146.8 of the expressway.
Among those who died were Koh Bee Hwee, 49, and her daughter, Goh Pey Sin, 20.
Goh Soon Ren, 61, who identified his wife and daughter, when met at the Sultanah Fatimah Specialist Hospital morgue, said he received a telephone call from someone who told him about the accident early this morning.
He said when he received the call, he did not expect that his wife and daughter had died.
Goh, from Taman Puteri, Johor Bahru, said his wife and daughter had gone to Ipoh to attend a relative’s wedding reception, and had boarded the bus from Sitiawan, Perak at 7pm last night.
Meanwhile, Goh Sea Keat, 31, one of the passengers who survived the accident, recalled the harrowing experience after the bus had overturned several times on the road.
Like all the other passengers, Sea Keat, who was on his way to Singapore, was asleep during the accident.
He said that after the bus had overturned, he crawled out of the bus despite suffering head injuries.
While crawling out, he said he saw many passengers trapped under their seat and some of them were screaming for help.
Another passenger, Tang Sze Khar, 12, said that he was asleep with his grandmother and mother when the mishap occurred. They were travelling to Singapore for a vacation.
“I did not know anything. When I awoke, I realised I was in hospital,” he said.
Sze Khar, who sustained leg injury, was however allowed to return home. — Bernama
