Fire and Rescue Department officers rescuing victims at the crash site. — Pictures courtesy of the Fire and Rescue Department

SEBERANG PERAI, Oct 24 — Eight factory workers died and 44 others injured in an accident involving two factory buses and a factory van at Km147 of the North-South Expressway near the Juru toll plaza here early today.

All the victims were women.

Those killed were Noriah Kasa, 40, a local worker at Plexus factory and seven Indonesians, namely Serlia, 21; Resni Tumanggar, 22; Yeni, 20; Sartika Pasaribu,19; Wami Windasih,19; Faridah,18; and Kris Pratiwi, 20 who were Sony factory workers in Perai.

At the time of the incident at 5.30 am, all the women were on their way to the workplace.

Four of the women were reported to be critically injured, with two being treated at the Penang Hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) and another two at the ICU of Seberang Jaya Hospital.

Seberang Perai Tengah District police chief ACP Nik Ros Azhan Nik Abdul Hamid said the incident involved a factory bus travelling from Ampat to Parit Buntar to send workers to the factory.

“The bus carrying the Sony factory workers is said to have experienced engine failure and stopped by the roadside before being rammed by another bus carrying local workers from Parit Buntar to a factory in Bayan Lepas,” he said.

He said the impact caused the bus carrying the Sony factory workers to swerve to the right of the highway and crashed into a van which was on the same route.

Nik Ros Azhan said the two factory bus drivers, aged in their 30s and 40s, are now being remanded for four days to facilitate investigation. The van did not carry any passengers at the time of the accident.

State executive councillor Dr Afif Bahardin, when met at HSP, said 26 people were being treated at the hospital, including at the ICU, three victims at Sungai Bakap Hospital; two in Penang Hospital’s ICU; and one in Bukit Mertajam Hospital while 12 others were given outpatient treatment.

Indonesian vice consul general in Penang, Osrinikita Zubhana said family members of the seven Indonesians killed in the accident had been informed of the incident pending the outcome of the post mortem report.

“The process of sending back the bodies of the victims to Indonesia would be done once the post mortem is completed, he said. — Bernama