Four people died in a three-vehicle crash on the Gerik-Jeli highway, where a witness recalled finding a young girl trapped beneath her mother’s body.
GERIK: Four people, including a young girl, were killed in a three-vehicle crash on the Gerik-Jeli East-West Highway (JRTB), near the Tasik Banding area here today.
A lorry driver who witnessed the incident said a young girl was found trapped beneath her mother’s body in a Perodua Axia involved in the crash, still breathing faintly, after members of the public initially thought there were only four victims in the car.
Lorry driver Khairul Anwar Abdul Manaf, 42, said they only realised there was another victim when they were about to extricate a young boy from the vehicle.
“We were about to extricate the young boy and thought there were only a few victims left. But when we looked, there were five people. It turned out the little girl was beneath her mother.
“When the little girl was extricated from the car, she was still moving but was not crying. However, she then went quiet and was confirmed dead,” he said when met by reporters at the Gerik District Police Headquarters (IPD) here today.
Khairul said the young boy was still alive at the time but had sustained severe leg injuries, while the young girl was believed to have suffered facial injuries.
Khairul, who was driving the lorry also involved in the crash, said he had tried to avoid the Perodua Axia but there were other vehicles around before the car suddenly veered towards his lorry.
“We saw that the car looked like it was heading towards the drain, but suddenly it seemed to veer towards us. I tried to brake, but I couldn’t do anything at that moment.
“After that, I heard a loud crash to the point I did not know the actual situation. The next thing I knew, the Axia was already in front of the lorry,” he said.
All the bodies and injured victims were taken to Taiping Hospital for post-mortem examinations and further treatment, while the identities of the victims are still being established.
