SEREMBAN: The driver and attendant of a Poslaju lorry were burnt to death in a road accident involving their vehicle and two others on the North-South Expressway (south-bound) near here early yesterday, said a police spokesman.
Hasmadi Safar and Mohd Shahrim Mohd Saad were travelling south when a trailer lorry laden with plastic goods travelling north rammed the rear of a lorry carrying fertiliser at Km251.9 at 4.10am, then veered to the south-bound part of the highway and collided with the Poslaju lorry, he said.
The other lorry overturned on the emergency lane on the north-bound part of the highway, he added
The spokesman said the impact of the collision caused the trailer lorry and the Poslaju lorry to catch fire.
“The ages of the victims (Poslaju driver and attendant) could not be ascertained as their identity cards were destroyed in the fire. Their bodies were sent to the Tuanku Jaafar Hospital in Seremban,” he said.
The driver of the fertiliser-laden lorry, Razak Baba, 42, and attendant Shaharom Osman, 42, and the attendant of the trailer lorry, Mohd Faiz Mesenan, 25, were slightly injured, he said. The driver of the trailer lorry was unhurt.
The accident caused a massive traffic congestion that stretched for five kilometres.
Negeri Sembilan Traffic Police chief ASP Halil Hamzah, when contacted, confirmed the accident.
State Fire and Rescue Department director Norazam Khamis said 39 firemen were rushed to the scene in six trucks from the Senawang, Seremban and Seremban 2 stations to
carry out rescue and put out the fire.
He said the Poslaju lorry driver was trapped in the vehicle and burned to death while the attendant died after he was removed from the burning vehicle.
“When the firemen arrived at the scene, the two vehicles were on fire. The accident caused fuel to spill from the vehicles and trigger a fire that spread across two acres off the roadside,” he said. — Bernama