SLIM RIVER: The driver of an oil tanker lorry met a fiery end after the lorry caught fire in an accident at Km 372 of the North-South (PLUS) Expressway near the north-bound Behrang rest and service areas this morning.
The accident, which occurred around 8 am involved the tanker lorry laden with diesel and two steel-laden trailer lorries.
Muallim District Police chief Supt Wan Kamarul Azran Wan Yusof said the driver, identified as Mohamad Suhaimi Khamis, 38, from Puchong, Selangor, was burnt to death when he rammed the rear of the trailer lorry parked behind the other in the emergency lane.
“We will try to obtain the closed-circuit television camera footage from PLUS to facilitate further investigations into the incident,” he said in a statement here today.
He said the initial investigation found that the trailer lorry driver Mohamad Jurid Bakar, 45, from Pekan, Pahang, had stopped his vehicle in the emergency lane after detecting faulty brakes.
“The other driver, Kamarul Azwar Abu Bakar, 34, from Jitra, Kedah, then parked his trailer lorry in front of Mohamad Jurid’s to provide some assistance as they were from the same company,” he said.
He said after helping Mohamad Jurid, Kamarul Azwar returned to his lorry and saw the tanker lorry coming towards them and crashed into the rear of Mohamad Jurid’s lorry, causing it to be sandwiched between the two lorries before it caught fire.
The charred body of the unknown driver was taken to Slim River Hospital, he said.
Meanwhile, according to PLUS Trafik tweets, the incident had caused traffic congestion of eight kilometres before noon, but work to put out the fire and remove the lorries were completed at around 1 pm and the traffic flow had slowly returned to normal at 2 pm. – Bernama
