Trailer driver with 15 summonses under probe after Karak highway crash kills baby girl and family

KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 — The driver of a trailer involved in a fatal accident that claimed four lives at Kilometer 43 of the Kuala Lumpur-Karak (KLK) Expressway this evening was found to have 15 traffic summonses.

Pahang police chief Datuk Seri Yahaya Othman said police had also taken a blood sample from the 40-year-old man for toxicology analysis.

He said the lorry driver was receiving further treatment for head and hip injuries.

“Further investigations are being carried out to complete the investigation and identify the overall cause of the incident and the case is being investigated under Section 41(1) of the Road Transport Act 1987,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Yahaya said in the incident at about 4.30pm, the trailer carrying a load of iron dust hit a Honda City driven by a 55-year-old man with three passengers aged between one and 58.

He said initial investigations found that the trailer was travelling from Kuala Lumpur towards Kuantan before it is believed to have lost control while going down a hill and around a bend at the scene of the incident.

“The lorry involved then overturned to the left side of the road before hitting a car in the left lane.

“As a result of the accident, the driver and three passengers of the car were confirmed dead at the scene and the bodies of all the victims were taken to the Temerloh Hospital Forensic Unit for a post-mortem tomorrow,” he said.

Earlier, a team of personnel from the Pahang Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) took about two hours to extract all the trapped victims.

It is understood that the trailer also caught fire while the operation to remove the vehicle was underway after all the victims were successfully removed. — Bernama