SEMPORNA – Police have arrested a trailer lorry driver in connection with a three-vehicle collision at KM21 Jalan Semporna-Tawau which left two foreign tourists dead and five others seriously injured yesterday.
Semporna police chief Mohd Farhan Lee Abdullah said the 29-year-old trailer driver, a local, was detained for the investigation of the crash involving a 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 police headquarters’ traffic investigation officer Hemkkumar Ayathuray at 012-3650021 or the police station at 089-782020.
According to Farhan, the crash occurred at about 3.30pm and it is believed that 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, and four other Singaporean passengers were seriously injured and sent to Tawau Hospital for treatment. – March 12, 2024