Three passengers remain in a critical condition, with five more seriously hurt and 23 escaping with minor injuries.

In the 9.35am incident, the bus passengers — 16 male and 16 female students of the Student Facilitators Club — were on their way to the Bukit Cerakah recreational forest in Shah Alam for a one-day programme.

“The driver was believed to have lost control and the bus swerved to the left, sweeping construction marker cones out of the way, said city Fire and Rescue Department director Khiruddin Drahman, adding that the distress call was received by the Sri Hartamas fire station at 9.42am.

“It plunged into a trench dug for an underground pipe.”

Seventeen fire and rescue personnel from the Sri Hartamas and Hang Tuah fire stations, worked for an hour to free the injured passengers, Khiruddin said.

UIAM corporate communication division senior deputy director Abdul Latiff Abdul Rahman said 30 of the students were sent to the Sungai Buloh Hospital, while the remaining two were warded at Kuala Lumpur Hospital.

“Three of them were admitted to the intensive care unit, while the others received outpatient treatment.”

First year automotive engineering student, Muhammad Zaid Rozali, said the accident took place after the Jalan Duta toll plaza.

“I was playing games on my phone. I noticed the bus was swerving to the left,” the 21-year-old student said.

“Suddenly, the bus crashed into the construction site beside the highway.”

He said the scenario inside the bus was chaotic after it crashed.

“Some students were crying. Everyone was traumatised. Some were stuck in their seats.

“A doctor who was driving on the highway came to help the injured students to clean and wrap their wounds. Some construction workers also came to help.”

Zaid claimed the driver was asleep at the wheel. He also said one of his uninjured friends called for the ambulance.

“My friends saw the driver, who is in his 50s, and thought he looked sick before we started our journey.”

Another student, Muhammad Shaharudin Shakrani, said he felt the bus “swerve to the left” moments before it crashed.

“We had to wait for the fireman to rescue those who were badly injured,” he said.

Shaharudin also claimed the driver was sleepy when he was driving.

National Road Safety Council member Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, who lauded the move by Transport Ministry to curb bus crash incidents, said the implementation and enforcement of the proposals need to be in place sooner.

Lee, who headed the independent advisory panel that came up with the proposals, said it was better to implement the safety measures sooner rather than later, which he said would only take effect next year.

These measures included mandatory seatbelts for bus passengers and installing global positioning system, and the banning of double-decker buses on hilly roads.

“The most recent case involving a university bus again shows another example of the seriousness of accidents involving buses,” he said.

Lee added the proposed safety measures should be applied to all buses.

“Also, road safety should be the responsibility of the bus operator and drivers.

“With every passing day, more accidents involving buses are happening and this is completely unnecessary.”