A supposedly happy Qing Ming affair descended into chaos as screams of “I don’t want to live anymore” pierced the already tense halls of the Kuala Kubu Baru Hospital today as cries of anguish and despair came from a relative who only a few hours earlier had lost six family members in a highway crash.
The family of six, the youngest of whom was a 13-year-old boy, died after their MPV was crushed by a trailer which had slid out of control on the North-South Expressway.
It was learnt that the family were on their way to Bidor for the Qing Ming festival.
The deceased was identified as 46-year-old Lam Wai Loon, who was driving, Lam Leong Choy, 76, Lam Wai Keat, 35, Wong Check Lee, 53, Lam Jie Yang, 19, and Lam Jie Hong, 13.
In the car was Wai Loon’s wife Check Lee, their sons Jie Yang and Jie Hong, Wai Keat who was the driver’s brother and the oldest passenger in the car, Leong Choy, was the father of the driver.
The six, who were from Puchong, Selangor, were heading north to Bidor at around 7.30 am today on Km 403 of the North-South expressway near Hulu Selangor, when the accident happened.
Distraught members of the family had arrived at the hospital mortuary to claim the bodies. Family members had declined to speak to the media who had gathered there in numbers.
At around 2.50 pm, an unidentified man arrived at the mortuary followed by police escorts. The distraught man, who seemed to be one of the relatives, was taken into the mortuary immediately.
It was learnt that this man was supposed to meet the family at Bidor. He had waited for several hours but the family did not turn up.
Repeated phone calls to the family were made but to no avail and he was later informed that they had all died in the tragedy.
The driver of the trailer emerged unscathed in the tragedy.
According to Selangor Fire and Rescue Department assistant director (operations) Mohd Sani Harul, it is believed that one of the trailer’s tyres had burst, sending the lorry careening into the family’s car, which was travelling in the same direction.
“It took us over an hour just to get the bodies of the victims out of the wreckage,” he said.
“We had to use special tools and a crane to retrieve the remains,” he added.
Hulu Selangor OCPD Supt R. Supramaniam said the lorry driver, who escaped injury, has been detained and will undergo urine and blood tests.
Supramaniam said that the case was classified under Section 41 (1) of the Road Transport Act 1987 for causing death by reckless driving.
Source: The Sun Daily/Bernama/NST