Rescuers call off search for Genting crash victims

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian rescuers yesterday ended their overnight search for more victims of a bus crash near the hilltop gambling resort of Genting Highlands, which claimed 37 lives in the country’s worst road accident.

Bentong district police officer Mohd Mansor Mohd Norr said the police have ended their search and were conducting operations to retrieve valuables and documents to identify the dead.

The police said they were still probing the cause of the accident but brake failure could be one of the reasons the bus, believed to be carrying 53 people, careened off the road.

The bus was on its way down from Genting Highlands when it skidded off the road on Wednesday afternoon, plunging into a ravine.

Only 15 of the 37 people who died had been identified, Mr Mansor said. Four of the victims who have been identified are foreigners. Two of them were Indian nationals and another two were Bangladeshis, local media reported. Other reports said a Korean and a Nepalese were also among the dead yet to be identified. The bus driver, a Malaysian, was also killed in the accident.

Earlier yesterday, the police released the names of the 16 passengers who were rescued, some with serious injuries who are being treated in several hospitals. The government said financial aid and counselling will be extended to the victims. Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rohani Abdul Karim said financial aid of RM500 (S$194) would be extended to the survivors of the crash and RM,1000 will be given to families of passengers who died.

Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is on a three-day visit to Thailand, has offered condolences to the families of the victims.

Meanwhile, Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Tun Hussein directed the Road Safety Department and the Road Transport Department to look into the cause of the accident and cautioned against speculating on the cause of the crash.

“I, too, am angry and saddened by the tragedy. But it is too early for us make conclusions,” he said.

Competing accounts on the cause of the crash have emerged with survivor Mosammat Sirajum, a Malaysian permanent resident from Bangladesh, telling Malaysiakini the bus driver had been angry and was speeding after arguing with a taxi driver who had allegedly recklessly overtaken the bus. Reports also said the bus had been overloaded and had been blacklisted for various traffic offences.

Public Land Transport Commission Chairman Syed Hamid Albar yesterday dismissed the reports. “The bus at the time of the incident was not overloaded (it was ferrying 53 passengers), according to the conditions of the (vehicle) licence (permit),” he said. AGENCIES