Youth killed, two friends injured in Labuan accident

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The wrecked Toyota Avanza at at KM3.5, Jalan Tun Mustapha. Police said 13 road deaths have been reported in Labuan this year.

The wrecked Toyota Avanza at at KM3.5, Jalan Tun Mustapha. Police said 13 road deaths have been reported in Labuan this year.

LABUAN: A local youth was killed while his two friends were injured when the Toyota Avanza multi-purpose vehicle they were travelling in slammed into a roadside tree at KM3.5, Jalan Tun Mustapha here yesterday.

Labuan police chief Supt. Adzhar Othman said the 21-year-old driver, Mazlan Majid succumbed to head injuries in the 6am mishap.

He said the victim’s friends had been warded at the Nukelus Hospital for treatment and were in stable condition.

One of them is a 19-year-old who suffered facial injuries, and the other is  a 21-year-old who sustained a broken right leg.

Police were investigating the case under Section 41(1) of the Road Transport Act 1987, he added.

Initial investigation showed that Mazlan and his friends were travelling towards the town centre from Pohon Batu, when Mazlan suddenly lost control of the vehicle.

“The vehicle skidded before it crashed against a tree on the road divider,” said Adzhar, adding they were trapped inside the badly mangled van and fire personnel were called in to extricate them for the wreckage.

The body of Mazlan who died on the spot during the accident had been sent to the hospital for a post-mortem, he added.

According to Adzhar, 13 fatal road accident cases were reported during the first seven months of this year, compared to 11 similar cases during the same period in 2015.