GEORGE TOWN: Two young girls, who survived a horrible crash when their parents gave their lives to save them, now face an uncertain future.

The parents had tried to protect the girls by using their own bodies as a shield during the accident along the North-South Expressway near Sungai Bakap on April 29.

Rescuers found the children locked in their parents’ embrace after the crash.

Relatives of the couple are still stunned by the tragedy and are trying to work out how best to care for the girls.

To make things worse, Khairiyah Alisha Khosim, 10, suffered two broken legs, while all the toes on 18-month-old Khaira Amni’s right foot had to be amputated.

Both girls are still being warded in Penang Hospital.

Khaira Amni is comforted by her aunt Norhanisah Ismail.

“We may send them to stay with their grandparents in Pahang, or they may live with me in Kuala Lumpur,” said their uncle Khalib Ismail yesterday.

Khalib, 29, said Khairiyah Alisha was aware that her parents had died in the accident.

The girls’ father Khosim, 32, had lost control of the lorry they were in and rammed into the back of another lorry.

Khalib said Khosim and his wife Khairunnisa Ahmad Kamaluddin, 31, died on the spot.

“I believe my brother and his wife managed to hug their children in the seconds before the crash.

“They died for them, so we must now do our best to care for the kids,” Khalib said. “I will stay with them until they can be discharged.”

State Health Committee chairman Dr Afif Bahardin visited the girls yesterday and gave them personal cash aid.