KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 22 — Putrajaya has promised a thorough investigation into yesterday’s fatal bus crash in Genting Highlands, as criticisms mount against the condition of the vehicle before it took on the steep roads leading to the tourist hotspot.
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, which has been described as the worst bus crash in Malaysian history.
“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 Hospital Kuala Lumpur (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 today, Bentong OCPD Supt Mansor Mohd Noor 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.
Attempts to contact the bus company 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.
In a tragedy that has been described as the worst in Malaysian history so far, 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.
Road fatalities involving express buses have been a recurrent issue in Malaysia.
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.
A year before that, 10 people died on December 26 when the north-bound bus they were in crashed into the guardrail at the Ipoh toll plaza.
Another 10 died on December 7, 2008 when their express bus skidded and overturned in Pagoh, Johor.
Another incident with high fatalities happened on August 13, 2007 when 22 people, including the driver, died when the express bus they were travelling in crashed near the Bukit Gantang, Perak rest area on the North-South Expressway.
More recently, a teacher and three students were killed on November 11, 2011 when their chartered bus collided with a tanker while they were on their way up Genting Highlands from Kulim, Kedah.
