PUTATAN: A 42-year-old mother, who had just sent her nine-year-old daughter and a niece to a primary school here, cheated death when a lorry crashed onto her Perodua Bezza during a peak-hour incident that saw 13 other cars and a motorcycle suffer damages.
The 11.30am incident happened in front of Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Tansau, Ketiau here, on Friday morning. The lorry driver, a 56-year-old foreign man, fled from the scene and was believed to have surrendered himself to the police in Penampang.
Prior to the incident, it was believed that the lorry was laden with stones from Kg Mandu to be sent to a secondary school in Putatan. The victim told Daily Express that she was grateful that the accident occurred after she had sent her daughter and a niece to SK Tansau.
She was shocked when the lorry rammed the rear of her Perodua Bezza which suffered a total loss. She was unhurt. The lorry was believed to have lost control of the wheel also collided with a Nissan X-Trail causing it to be sandwiched vertically between the lorry and a Proton Saga.
The Nissan X-Trail was driven by a 40-year-old teacher who suffered light injuries on one of her hands while her niece who was also inside the vehicle was unhurt. Several local residents who were at the scene helped to bring out the teacher from her vehicle together with the two young children.
Ten other vehicles and a motorcycle that were parked at the scene as their drivers were waiting to pick up children from the school also suffered damages. There were no casualties reported although the incident caused a traffic congestion as it was peak hour.
The lorry driver has been detained to be investigated under Section 42 of the Road Transport Act 1987 for reckless driving.
