Runaway truck kills two students

The Sun, 14 January 2016

Ashwin Kumar newsdesk@thesundaily.com

KAJANG: Barely two weeks after starting their secondary education, two Form 1 students were killed in Bandar Damai Perdana, Kajang today afternoon when a runaway undocumented truck mowed them down.

In the 12.50pm mishap, Lau Zi Xin and Wong Siow Xuen, both 13, were walking to school for their afternoon school session, opposite SMK Bandar Damai Perdana school.

Kajang police chief ACP Willey Richard said the lorry driver was arrested and being investigated under Section 304 of the Penal Code for causing death by Negligence.

"Initially, the lorry driver, believed to be an Indonesian, parked the lorry to buy food, and the lorry head was facing the road where the incident took place.

"Minutes later the driver was informed by the security guard of the construction site that the lorry was speeding and had crashed into motorcycles and students," he said.

Richard said the driver claimed the lorry was handled (dikacau) by an unknown person which led to the incident.

"We believe the lorry careened into a host of other vehicles and a total of 35 motorcycles were involved in the incident," he added.

The bodies of the two victims were sent to Serdang hospital for post-moterm.

Selangor Fire and Rescue Department operations assistant director Mohd Sani Harul said two hawkers were also injured in the incident.

"We received the distress call at 1.11pm about the incident and firemen from Kajang were deployed to rescue the victims," he said.

Witnesses claimed they heard a loud collision sound and all they thought was to help the victims involved.

School security guard, M. Kumar, 28, said the lorries shouldn't be on the road particularly during early morning and afternoon because parents and school buses will be dropping and fetching the pupils.

"One thing that is really worrying is that the road opposite the school leads to a construction site and it is dangerous for the students especially when they park their motorcycles on the footpath," he told theSun.

Meanwhile P. Kamalanathan, whose younger brother is studying in the same school, also expressed his concern.

"The first thing that came to mind was my brother's safety.

"I am not sure whether the lorry involved in the crash was 'approved' by the authorities and these drivers always speed," he said.