AUXILIARY POLICEMAN KILLED IN EXPRESSWAY CRASH AFTER FAMILY VISIT

SUNGAI BULOH, Jan 11 (Bernama) -- A return journey home for an auxiliary police officer and his family to Batu Pahat, Johor, after visiting his late stepmother in Jitra, Kedah, ended in tragedy when he was killed in a collision involving an express bus and a three-tonne lorry on the North-South Expressway early today.

The victim, Luqman Nul Hakim Halim, 37, originally from Kedah and residing in Batu Pahat, was travelling on the bus with his wife, identified as Nabila, 40, and their four children.

His niece, Nor Ashikin Nordin, 32, said she received a call from the victim’s father informing her of the incident before rushing to Sungai Buloh Hospital.

She said she was initially told Luqman Nul Hakim was still alive and was asked to wait at the red zone of the Emergency and Trauma Department as his condition was critical.

Nor Ashikin said she was later informed that the victim sustained severe injuries after being impaled by a road barrier in the abdominal area.

She said the family has yet to meet the victim’s wife, who is still receiving treatment for fractures to her arms and legs, while the couple’s four children are temporarily under her care.

The eldest child is 10 years old while the youngest is seven months old, she said.

Nor Ashikin said the body is expected to be buried in Beranang, Selangor, where close family members reside, subject to the completion of the post-mortem examination.

Meanwhile, private administrative assistant Kamaruz Zaman Khairul Anam, 25, said both his parents were also involved in the same accident, with his father sustaining leg injuries after being trapped.

In the accident at Kilometre 441.2 of the North-South Expressway southbound between Sungai Buaya and Rawang at 5.51 am, 38 of the 42 passengers managed to exit the bus safely, while all injured were taken to Sungai Buloh Hospital for treatment.

-- BERNAMA