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SEMPORNA - Police have arrested a trailer lorry driver in connection with a three-vehicle collision at KM21 Jalan Semporna-Tawau that left two foreign tourists dead and five others seriously injured yesterday.
Semporna District Police Chief Supt Mohd Farhan Lee Abdullah said the 29-year-old trailer driver, a local, was detained to assist in the investigation of the crash which involved the trailer lorry he was driving, a tour van and a 'box' lorry.
The case is being investigated under Section 41 (1) of the Road Transport Act 1987 which provides imprisonment for up to 10 years and a maximum fine of RM50,000 if convicted, he said in a statement today.
He also urged witnesses or anyone with information on the crash to contact Semporna District Police Headquarters Traffic Investigation Officer Insp Hemkkumar Ayathuray at 012-3650021 or the police station at 089-782020.
According to Mohd Farhan, the crash occurred at 3.30pm, believed when the trailer driver lost control of the wheel causing the vehicle to enter into the opposite lane and hit a tour van carrying six Singaporean and Vietnamese tourists aged between 11 and 71.
As a result of the collision between the two vehicles, debris from the accident flew into the glass screen of the box truck travelling behind the trailer truck.
A Singaporean man and a Vietnamese woman travelling in the tour van died at the scene of the incident," he said, adding that the van driver, who is a local man, and four Singaporean passengers were seriously injured and sent to Tawau Hospital for treatment. - BERNAMA