Trailer Driver Linked To Gerik Crash Arrested, Permit To Be Suspended

Following a multi-vehicle accident that killed a 34-month-old baby on the East-West Highway near Gerik on October 29, the Transport Ministry will provisionally suspend the permit of the lorry operator.

Minister Anthony Loke stated that the Road Transport Department Malaysia and the Land Public Transport Agency had been directed to audit the company's lorry fleet.

He stated that the measure was taken because the ministry will not tolerate drivers or companies who harm road users.

A dashcam video of the incident, which has since gone viral, showed a lorry overloaded with white ceiling material colliding with vehicles in the other lane at a bend on the road.

Gerik district police chief Superintendent Zulkifli Mahmood told Bernama yesterday that the incident occurred about 11 a.m. on Oct 29.

A 47-year-old lorry driver was also detained at a roadblock at Batu Melintang, Jeli, Kelantan, before being brought to the Gerik district police headquarters for investigation, according to authorities.

"The accident occurred when the white ceiling cargo on the trailer, which was travelling from Gerik to Jeli, fell off and landed on a Subaru Forester while negotiating a turn. The crash also affected three additional automobiles "Zulkifi said.

The 29-year-old Subaru Forester driver was unharmed, he added, but his wife, 31, was critically injured and transferred to the Tanah Merah Hospital in Kelantan.