IPOH: Her husband had reminded her to look after the children well, said the second wife of the former director of the Ipoh Mineral Research Centre, Dzulkarnain Kamaruzzaman, 64, who died in an accident near Tanjung Malim early yesterday morning.
Rozita Adnan, 40, said Dzulkarnain gave the reminder about two hours before fetching his first wife, Jamnah Ibrahim, 56, to attend a relative’s wedding in Shah Alam.
“He headed to his first wife’s house at about 4 am. He asked that I look after our five children well,” she told reporters when met at Jamnah’s home in Persiaran Bukit Meru 11, here yesterday.
She said her husband had his cup of coffee and took a last look at their children, aged between six and 12, who were still sleeping.
“There was nothing different, I did not think it would be the last time I would see him,” Rozita, who lived in Taman Perpaduan here, said.
In the incident at about 6.35am yesterday, Dzulkarnain, Jamnah and their daughter Nur Juliana, 17, were killed when the Mercedez Benz car they were travelling in was hit by a gantry signboard after it was rammed by a container lorry at KM399.6 of the PLUS Highway (northbound).
The lorry’s driver and his attendant were injured and were sent to the Slim River Hospital for further treatment.
“The lorry’s driver will be detained for urine test and to facilitate the investigation
under Section 41(1) of the
Road Transport Act 1987,” Hulu Selangor District Police chief Supt R Supramaniam said.
Following the accident, the traffic was congested for two kilometres in both directions.
Rozita and Dzulkarnain had been married for about 13 years and had five children together – four boys and a girl.
Meanwhile, Dzulkarnain’s brother, Zahirul Baharin Kamaruzzaman, 51, said in September, Dzulkarnain had contacted him to invite him to the wedding of his eldest child, Nor Nadia, 26, on Oct 30.
“He sounded very happy, he kept asking me to turn up,” Zahirul said.
Zahirul, from Bukit Dumbar, Penang, said the last time he met Dzulkarnain and Jamnah was during the last fasting month at a cousin’s wedding in Shah Alam.
He added that he found out about the incident at about 8.20am through a telephone call from a relative.
Besides Nor Nadia and the late Nor Juliana, Dzulkarnain and Jamnah also left behind two other children, Nor Elina, 24, and Dzul Azrai, 19.— Bernama