INJURED AND ANGRY

MOST of them were about to fall asleep on the tour bus.

IN PAIN: Rescue workers fitting a neck brace on a man, believed to be the bus driver.

After dinner at a shopping mall near Ulu Tiram at about 10.30pm on Friday, the 26 passengers from Singaporewere headed to Cameron Highlands for a weekend getaway.

The swaying of the bus and the jolts kept some awake. Some were uneasy as they felt the driver was going too fast.

Before they could tell him to slow down, their worst fears came true.

The bus hit the back of a trailer, seriously injuring six passengers who had to be warded in hospital.

The driver was also warded with serious injuries, including broken legs and face and chest wounds.

Most of the other passengers and a male tour guide, believed to be Malaysian, suffered minor injuries and received outpatient treatment.

Amid the chaos and confusion, anger overcame some of the victims of the crash, which happened on the North-South highway near Tangkak, Johor.

Instead of helping the injured driver, who was trapped in his cabin, they scolded him, accusing him of speeding.

They wanted him to 'take responsibility' for causing the accident, Lianhe Wanbao reported.

With blood streaming from his face and groaning in pain, all he could do was take the verbal abuse in silence.

Rescue workers later freed him and other passengers who were trapped in the front of the bus.

Moments before the collision, one passenger had noticed the driver trying to overtake a lorry that was behind the trailer.

Ms Teo Ru Yin, 23, who returned to Singapore yesterday, told The New Paper on Sunday: 'I was sitting at the rear of the bus and was almost asleep when I heard a loud crash.

'When I opened my eyes, I realised I had been thrown forward onto the floor.'

Ms Teo and most of her colleagues from DKSH Technology, a marketing and distribution services provider, were injured.

She broke a tooth and bruised her limbs.

Finding her way out of the bus was difficult in the dark.

Personal belongings littered the cabin floor.

Visibly shaken

Some colleagues were visibly shaken as they waited for help.

IN A DAZE: Passengers being helped out of the wrecked bus by rescue workers. Many rested by the roadside, while the seriously injured were rushed to hospital. (Above) The bus driver had to be extricated from his seat, but the trailer driver escaped unhurt. --PICTURES: GUANGMING DAILY

Broken passenger seats, shattered glass and corn, which the trailer had been transporting, were strewn on the road.

Added Ms Teo, who has been with the company for three years: 'I don't wish to remember what happened because it's painful and sad.'

The tour group had started on a happy note when they left the company premises at Boon Leat Terrace in Pasir Panjang.

The three-day tour was organised by a colleague. The passengers included family members.

The seriously injured were taken to the Malacca General Hospital, where it is believed that a woman, 48, remains in a coma.

Some of them were transferred to Singapore's Alexandra Hospital yesterday.

One woman in her 30s fractured both legs.

As news spread among family members and colleagues of those on the bus, one of them waited with worry and concern.

Madam Faridah Ahmad, 46, learned about the accident when she got an SMS from Ms Teo yesterday morning.

'The impression I got was that the accident was a minor one,' she said.

'But when I saw news footage which showed the front of the bus smashed, and also my friend Ru Yin bleeding from the mouth, I started to worry more.'

Madam Faridah made frantic calls to the others in the group.

As the injured had been taken away in different ambulances, nobody was sure of the condition of others.

Added Madam Faridah: 'I began to think of the worst when nobody answered their handphones.

'But later, most of them returned my calls one by one. My husband said to me that I could have been one of those injured if I had not turned down the invitation to go on the trip.'

Seen swaying

The trailer driver, who was unhurt, was reported in Lianhe Wanbao as saying he had seen from his rear view mirrors that the bus was swaying.

The bus accelerated and moved into the right lane to overtake the lorry.

When the bus tried to move back into the left lane, it collided into the rear of the trailer, he said, adding that he felt a 'strong impact'.

Last evening, Madam Faridah said some colleagues had returned home.

She added: 'I hope everybody will recover. About a year ago, we lost two colleagues in a bus accident at Bukit Batok. Those painful memories are still fresh.'

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S'PORE VICTIMS IN N-S HIGHWAY CRASHES

1

Dec 2008

Singaporean Dominic Chan crashed his bike into an overturned lorry. As the man lay dying along the road shoulder, some onlookers took photographs.

He died before the ambulance arrived.

2

Dec 2008

Singapore-based American business executive Rick Smith, 54, died on the spot when his Harley-Davidson collided with a 14-wheeler trailer near Yong Peng in Johor.

3

Dec 2008

Ten people were killed and 18 injured when the Singapore-bound bus they were in crashed into a tree.

One of them was a S'pore PR, a 26-year-old medical student from Hong Kong working at Changi General Hospital.

4

Jan 2009

S'pore PR Ng Cheong Boon, 45, was driving when a lorry suddenly swerved and hit his car.

The crash killed his wife and 14-year-old son. His two daughters, 7 and 10 and another son, 16, were injured.

5

Jan 2009

A 24-year-old S'pore biker died while journeying up to Malacca.

Mr Mohamad Idzwan Abdul Aziz reportedly lost control of his motorcycle as he was trying to overtake another vehicle.