In the latest in a series of tragic accidents involving family members, six people died when the Proton Iswara car they were travelling in collided with a trailer at KM78 along the Kuantan-Segamat road near Pekan, at 8.45 last night.
Pekan Deputy OCPD, DSP Amran Sidek said the dead were identified as car driver Norfaizah Mansor, 31, her four children Norsyahira Atika Saudi, 13, Norsufia Saudi, 10, Norsuhaila Saudi, seven, and Mohd Shahrul Amir Saudi, three, as well as Norfaizah's younger brother, Mohd Saiful Anwar Mansor, 14.
Amran said all the victims were returning home to Pekan after visiting Norfaizah's parents in Keratong 2, Rompin when the accident happened.
"Upon reaching the scene of the accident near Kampung Runchang, the Proton Iswara, which was coming from the direction of Segamat, tried to overtake the vehicle in front but failed and collided with a trailer coming from the opposite direction," he told reporters, here today.
Amran said all the victims died on the spot due to serious head and chest injuries while the 44-year-old trailer driver and his wife, 43, suffered minor leg injuries.
He said the case was being investigated under Section 41 (1) of the Road Transport Act.
Meanwhile, Norfaizah's father, Mansor Hamid, 55, said he did not expect that his family's visit would end up in such tragedy.
"Normally, the youngest grandchild would not follow the mother back to Pekan, but this time, everyone wanted to go back," said Mansor who came to know of the tragedy at 11pm and immediately rushed to the scene.
Norfaizah's mother, Arfah Sulung, 54, said her daughter came home with her younger brother and children because she wanted to meet her husband, who works in Bukit Ibam, Muadzam Shah.
"My son-in-law had planned to take my daughter and their children to Malacca on a vacation during the school holidays," she said.
The Pekan tragedy comes on the heels of several other road accidents reported that have claimed eight lives in the past few days.
Yesterday, three children of a multinational company’s vice-president were killed when the car they were travelling in rammed into a safety wall at the Sungai Dua toll plaza near Kepala Batas at 2.45am and burst into flames.
Later the same day, a father and his son were killed when the car they were travelling in collided head-on with a bus at Km65.9 Jalan Ipoh-Kuala Lumpur near Bidor at 12.20pm.
On Saturday, three members of a family, who had just attended a prayer at a temple, were killed while two others were seriously injured when a car ploughed into them at Jalan Banting-Dengkil in Banting at 10pm
