TEMERLOH, Aug 15 — A routine wait for his wife’s arrival turned into a frantic search for answers after Saifulnizam Sulaiman realised she had not responded to his messages or calls for hours.

Saifulnizam, 39, was in Seremban for work while his wife, Nur Fatima Syuhada Abdullah, 39, and their 12-year-old son, Muhammad Fattah Aisy Naufal Saifulnizam, were travelling from Jerantut to join him during the school holidays.

“I sent her a message at about 5pm, but there was no reply, and after finishing work at about 7pm, I saw that the message was still unread and my calls were also unanswered,” he told Berita Harian when met at the forensic unit of Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Hospital here today.

He said his wife would normally keep him updated on their location and journey, and had never failed to answer his messages or calls during their 14 years of marriage.

“That’s why when the message was not read for several hours, I felt that something bad had happened,” he said.

His worst fears grew after he came across social media posts about a crash along Jalan Temerloh-Triang.

“It was then that I saw the accident on Jalan Temerloh-Triang on social media, and the first thing that came to my mind was, ‘That’s my wife and son,’” he said.

Saifulnizam said he contacted relatives in Temerloh to try to reach his wife, but they were also unable to get through to her.

He then drove from Seremban to Temerloh to find out what had happened.

Nur Fatima and Muhammad Fattah were killed after the car they were travelling in collided with a diesel tanker at about 4.30pm yesterday at Kilometre 9 of Jalan Temerloh-Triang.

Both vehicles caught fire following the collision.

Saifulnizam said his wife and son had left Jerantut at about 2pm and were heading to Seremban to help him with his business during the school holidays.

The tanker was carrying 32,000 litres of diesel and was believed to have skidded before colliding with the car.

Videos of the crash circulated on social media, showing both vehicles engulfed in flames shortly after the collision.