KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 22 — Police are investigating the possibility of “human error” behind the country’s worst-ever bus crash in Genting Highlands yesterday, amid concerns raised over the overloading of the vehicle and its condition before it travelled the steep route.
Bentong deputy OCPD Supt Wan Azharuddin Wan Ismail told The Malay Mail Online that Puspakom and the Chemistry Department will be inspecting the crashed vehicle to ascertain if human error or mechanical failure was the cause of the fatal accident.
“Ongoing now, Puspakom and Chemistry Department will go down to check the bus,” Wan Azharuddin told The Malay Mail Online, explaining that Puspakom and the police’s chemists would be assisting in the technical aspects of the police probe.
He also said the bus wreck would be pulled out from the ravine if the search operations are completed today.
“Possibly if we finish today, we will pull out the bus,” he said.
He also said that search-and-rescue operations at the site of the crash resumed at 9.45 this morning to find, among other things, the identification documents of victims.
He said the team comprised 23 men — 15 from the police’s General Operations Force (GOF) and eight from the Fire and Rescue Department.
The Star also reported Bentong OCPD Supt Mansor Mohd Nor as saying that police have not discovered any more bus passengers this morning, and would now be focused on recovering identification documents and valuables instead.
“Our personnel only found two severed legs which will be sent to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital.
“We are confident that there are no more victims in the bus or in the surrounding area,” he was quoted as telling reporters at the crash site today.
Health Ministry deputy director-general Datuk Dr Jeya Indran Sinnadurai said 30 autopsies have so far been carried out, with 17 of the bodies already identified as at 10am.
Those identified include 14 Malaysians and three foreigners.
Of the survivors, Dr Jeya said six were initially in critical condition but have since stabilised, though three of them remain in intensive care.
In a posting on his Twitter page this morning, acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein gave an assurance that the authorities will conduct a full probe on the tragedy.
“Will get 2 d bottom of this!,” he wrote in a reply to Twitter user @Rasbima who had asked if the bus had complied with all standard operating procedures.
Hishammuddin is also expected to visit HKL later where the bodies of the 37 dead passengers were brought after they were retrieved from the crash site.
According to a report on The Star today, the police had placed the bus on a blacklist with the Road Transport Department (JPJ) prior to its journey to Genting Highlands.
It is not known, however, the reason for the blacklist.
When contacted, a spokesperson for the JPJ declined to comment, saying the incident was still under police investigation.
According to The Star, Mansor said the bus belongs to Genting Highlands Transport Sdn Bhd, a KL-based firm.
The paper also quoted a spokesman for Genting Malaysia Berhad as saying that the vehicle is a public transport bus and not one of theirs.
“It is not ours,” the spokesman said, before offering condolences to the families of the dead and accident victims.
Pahang police chief Datuk Sharifuddin Ab Ghani was reported by Bernama as saying that Central Pahang Omnibus Bhd, the bus operator, had said the bus was to carry 48 passengers, the same as the number of tickets sold for the trip.
Attempts to contact both bus companies have since proved futile.
The Malay Mail Online understands that the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) will soon be issuing a statement on the incident.
Yesterday, the overloaded tour bus plunged some 70 metres down a ravine near the Chin Swee Temple on its journey down to KL from the popular tourist hotspot.
Of the 53 passengers in the 44-passenger-capacity bus, 37 were killed while 16 escaped with their lives, many with serious injuries.
The dead comprised 24 men and 13 women.
Authorities noted yesterday that over half of the passengers were foreigners from China, Bangladesh and Thailand and that the bus had exceeded its maximum capacity of 44 passengers.
It is understood that the bus driver, who was among the fatalities, had lost control of the vehicle while going downhill en route to Kuala Lumpur, ramming into a divider before the fatal plunge some 2km from the temple.
The previous record for the highest fatalities was on December 20, 2010 when another express bus, on its way down from Cameron Highlands, hit a divider and overturned, killing 27 people onboard, including the driver.
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