Bedbugs cause eight-hour nightmare for passengers on KL-Singapore coach

SINGAPORE — Barely an hour into her nap on a Starmart Express bus from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore on Boxing Day afternoon, Ms Natalie Yap was awoken by an itch that would not let up, and what the 29-year-old saw next was a rude surprise. 

“I felt very itchy, then I looked around me to see what insect it could be, and near my feet, I found a bedbug,” she told TODAY on Wednesday (Dec 28).

That was just the beginning of an eight-hour nightmare for the administrative executive. She proceeded to ask the bus driver if she could change her seat, but because the bus was full, she had to sit at the front-most seat, which had no incline, for the rest of the trip next to the bus driver.

Even then, she continued to find bedbugs around her. When she pointed this out to the driver, he retorted: “Maybe it is from your clothes?”

On reaching a rest-stop some four hours after the bus left Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Ms Yap found out that fellow passengers also suffered the same fate. 

She wrote about the incident and posted it on the bus company’s Facebook page, but it was deleted, she said. 

She then posted on her own Facebook account the pictures of the bedbugs and bites on the bus, which was registered AJB15. The post has since been shared more than 10,000 times as of Wednesday evening.

Ms Yap told TODAY that by the end of the bus journey, she caught some 15 bedbugs, and suffered 30 bites. She has since seen a doctor, spent S$64 on medical fees, and went on one day’s medical leave on Tuesday. 

Another passenger on the same bus, 21-year-old Shafiq Harun, suffered bites on his neck, hands and his body. He added that most of the 25 passengers on board, including children, were bitten by bedbugs. 

“We caught quite a number (of bedbugs) on the seats, floor, bags and our bodies,” he said, adding that it was a “chaotic” journey back to Singapore. 

(Photos: Facebook/ Hannah Zekie)

Both Mr Shafiq’s cousin and Ms Yap have lodged complaints with the company, with Ms Yap also demanding compensation for her medical fees. Mr Shafiq said that the driver told them the bus they took was a “standby bus”, which had not been used for around two weeks. 

An assistant manager from Starmart Express, who gave his name only as Ravi, told TODAY that this is the “first such incident” the company has encountered. There have been four complaints about the incident, he added.

Starmart Express — which has more than 200 buses in its fleet — posted on its Facebook page on Tuesday that coach number AJB15 has since been taken off service and given a chemical wash. Passengers of the affected bus may approach the company for recourse.

Mr Ravi confirmed that the bus is now back at the company’s headquarters in Malaysia, and its cleaning certificate stated that it was last given a chemical wash in November. Starmart Express buses undergo chemical cleaning every month, usually in Malaysia, he said. 

He said that one possibility for the bedbug infestation may have been passengers’ clothings or bags transporting the bugs onto the bus. 

The company is investigating the matter and would decide on its next course of action pending the outcome, he added.