‘I woke up with a body on top of me': Survivor recounts horror of Gerik bus crash
GERIK, June 11 — The tragic accident at KM53 of the East-West Highway (JRTB), near Tasik Banding, Gerik, that claimed the lives of 15 students from the Sultan Idris Education University (UPSI) must have left a traumatic impact on the survivors.
One such survivor, Abdul Wafiy Kamarudin, 23, when sharing the harrowing moments with Bernama, said the accident had such a strong impact so much so he was flung out of the bus, and most terrifyingly, a victim's body landed on him.
Abdul Wafiy, a sixth-semester student pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in Art Education, said he was looking at his mobile phone in the dimness of the night but could feel the bus was on moving quickly as it descended a winding, hilly road.
The bus driver stopped briefly to check the vehicle's brakes before continuing the journey, and suddenly at around 1am, the bus overturned, causing me to be thrown out of the window and into a drain.
'The situation at that time was very chaotic...and I was shocked to find a body on top of me. I was forced to push it off me to save myself,' he said when met while collecting his personal belongings at the Gerik district police headquarters (IPD) here yesterday.
However, the youngest among six siblings from Kampung Pak Kancil, Setiu in Terengganu is grateful because he only suffered minor injuries to his hands and face.
Meanwhile, Mohd Zaki Ismail, the father to victim Rohadatul Aisy, 21, said his daughter contacted him at about 3am to say that she had been involved in an accident.
'At that time, she (Rohadatul Aisy) said she was unable to move due to pain in both her neck and waist but a friend had helped carry her out of the bus.
'I immediately left Kampung Gong Badang, Besut in Terengganu at 8am and arrived at the Gerik Hospital to learn that my daughter suffered a fractured hip,' he said.
He also said that Rohadatul is receiving further treatment at the Besut Hospital, while he and his wife, Norliza Ghazali, are waiting to retrieve their child's personal belongings from the Gerik IPD.
In the early morning incident on Monday, 15 UPSI students died when a chartered bus from Jertih to Tanjung Malim overturned after colliding with a Perodua Alza at JRTB near Tasik Banding.
The accident also resulted in 33 others being injured, including the bus driver and conductor, as well as the driver and three passengers of the multi-purpose vehicle. — Bernama
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