Overloaded School Van Crashes With 22 Kids Inside

Malaysia is reeling again after yet another school van incident, this time involving 22 children. Around 1PM today, a school van collided with a cement trailer on the southbound North-South Expressway (PLUS) near the Bandar Dato Onn exit.

The kids had just been picked up from school when the van crashed, leaving three injured and the driver trapped in the wreckage. The trailer driver, 32, escaped unharmed. Tebrau Fire and Rescue operations commander Muhamad Azizi Zakaria said firefighters from the Tebrau and Kempas stations were dispatched immediately after receiving a distress call at 1:10PM.

“When we arrived, we found the school van had crashed into a cement trailer,” he says in a Bernama report.

Three students, two girls and a boy, sustained minor injuries. The van’s 45-year-old driver, a woman, was trapped in her seat and injured, Azizi confirmed.

“Rescuers worked for nearly 30 minutes using special tools to free her before handing all four victims over to paramedics.” he says, adding that all four were sent to Sultan Ismail Hospital (HSI) for further treatment while the other 19 students were unharmed.

This  crash comes on the heels of a heartbreaking case where a five-year-old was found dead after being left alone in a school van for nearly five hours, raising deeper concerns about the safety of children in school transport.
To make matters worse, the van involved in accident today was carrying 22 students, one more than legally allowed. It raises a troubling question; are parents aware of the overloading and turning a blind eye to save on fees, or is it a case of operators cutting corners to maximise profit at the expense of children's safety?

Whatever the reason, it’s unacceptable.

After repeated incidents, reported or not,  the government must take this seriously. School transport enforcement cannot remain reactive. Overcrowding, reckless driving, and speeding are not minor issues. They're warnings. And if left unchecked, the consequences could be fatal.