HULU SELANGOR, Feb 5 — Thirty-one people narrowly escaped death after an express bus was involved in a collision with two lorries at Km 433 of the North–South Expressway heading south early today.

According to Sinar Harian, the Selangor Fire and Rescue Department received an emergency call regarding the incident at 5.12 am.

Selangor Fire and Rescue Department operations assistant director Ahmad Mukhlis Mukhtar said 16 officers and personnel from the Bukit Sentosa Fire and Rescue Station, assisted by a team from Rawang, were dispatched to the scene located about eight kilometres away.

He said firefighters arrived at the scene nine minutes later and found that the crash involved an express bus, a 10-tonne bonded lorry and a trailer.

“There were 14 men, five women, seven children and two drivers on board the bus at the time of the incident,” he said in a statement this morning. 

Ahmad Mukhlis said the bus driver, a 39-year-old man, was trapped and suffered injuries to his leg before being successfully extricated by the fire department at 6.05am.

Several other passengers were reported to have sustained minor injuries.

According to him, the driver of the 10-tonne bonded lorry was also trapped, although the extent of his injuries had yet to be determined during rescue operations.

“The lorry attendant, also a 39-year-old man, suffered minor injuries, while the trailer driver sustained neck injuries,” he said.

All injured victims were rushed to the nearby hospital for further treatment.