SAD END: One of Taniah’s relatives identifies her body.
BINTULU: Police have arrested the driver of the van involved in an accident which killed five passengers on Wednesday night to assist with the investigation.
He was driving 14 passengers home from the Samalaju Industrial Park when the van crashed into the back of a lorry parked at the side of the Bintulu-Miri coastal road, about 54km from here, around 8pm. Bintulu police chief Supt Madang Usat said the van driver – who is a foreigner – and three other passengers only sustained minor injuries.
“The five victims were killed on the spot and most of them were sitting on the left side of the van. Six others were seriously injured and were taken to the hospital, all of them were foreigners,” he said.
The five passengers killed have been identified as Anuar, 28; Robert Mukiatim, 31; Imron Kunoba, 29; Surasman, 21; and Zainal Abidin, 24. Their bodies will undergo post-mortems at the Bintulu Hospital mortuary. It is said that the lorry’s engine had caught fire around 2pm, forcing the driver to abandon the vehicle.
In an unrelated case, a 46-year-old woman – who worked at the Bintulu Hospital canteen – was killed when the motorcycle she was riding crashed with a lorry at a junction near Daiken in Tanjuong Kidurong road yesterday at 10 am. The victim, identified as Taniah Taib, was killed on the spot due to multiple injuries. It is believed that she was travelling to her home in Kidurong from hospital.