Lorry driver detained over fatal container crush in Sepanggar

Kota Kinabalu: A 49-year-old lorry driver has been detained to facilitate investigations into a fatal accident where a container crushed a vehicle along Jalan Sepanggar on Sunday.

City police chief ACP Shahrudin Mat Husain said the 6.20pm incident near Sepanggar Port claimed the lives of a 53-year-old man and his 24-year-old daughter.

Initial findings revealed that the container lorry was lifting a container using a crane by the roadside when the container fell onto the victims' Toyota Avanza as it passed by.

Both victims were pinned inside the wreckage before being extricated by firefighters at 9.55pm and pronounced dead at the scene by a medical officer from Likas Hospital.

The case is being investigated under Section 41(1) of the Road Transport Act 1987, and police are currently tracing closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage as well as witness statements to establish the actual cause of the incident.