SINGAPORE - Five people were taken to hospital after a tour bus collided with a lorry near Genting Highlands on Wednesday morning (July 13).
Two Singaporean passengers and the Malaysian driver of the bus, which was carrying a total of 20 people, remain hospitalised, a spokesman for Singapore bus operator Transtar Travel said on Thursday. More than 15 passengers were Singaporean.
He said another two Singaporean passengers who were taken to hospital on Wednesday have returned home.
Only relatives have been informed about the extent of injuries, he added.
The Malaysian Civil Defence Force (APM) of Kuala Lumpur said in a Facebook post it was alerted at about 6.30am on Wednesday to the accident at the 29km mark of the Karak Expressway near Genting. The highway links Kuala Lumpur to Pahang on the east coast of Malaysia.
The bus had departed Golden Mile Complex in Singapore at 10.30pm on Tuesday and was due to arrive in Genting at 6am, the Transtar Travel spokesman said.
Some time after crossing the Causeway, passengers were switched to a different bus and bus driver because of issues with the air-conditioning, he added.
"The new bus driver is very experienced and has worked with us for about 20 years," he said, adding that the police are investigating how the accident occurred.
After the collision, passengers were trapped in the bus for about an hour before they were freed by the APM, Chinese-language newspaper Shin Min Daily News reported.
Transtar Travel offered all 20 passengers on the bus full refunds, accommodation in Kuala Lumpur and transport back to Singapore on Thursday, the spokesman said.
However, some chose to travel on to Genting Highlands while others made independent arrangements to return home on Wednesday, he added.
Buses from the company make six or seven trips daily on the same route from Golden Mile Complex, the spokesman said.
Photos of the scene posted on Facebook by the APM showed ambulance personnel transporting a bloodied woman away from the site of the crash.
The injured were taken to Selayang Hospital on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, according to the Facebook post.
Just last month, on June 29, a 28-year-old Singaporean woman in Malaysia was killed after the car she was in skidded and crashed along the eastern coast of Malaysia. She died on the spot.
In May, a Singaporean family escaped with minor injuries after the car they were travelling in swerved off a road to avoid a motorcycle and overturned at an oil palm plantation in Johor, Malaysia.
In 2013, a 74-year-old Singaporean woman died after succumbing to injuries in a road accident involving four vehicles at the 31.5km mark of the Karak Expressway. Another eight Singaporean tourists were also admitted to hospital after the accident.
The Straits Times has contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Malaysian police for comment.
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.
