On August 31st, which marks Malaysia’s National Day, a serious chain car accident occurred on the East Coast Expressway. Eleven vehicles collided, resulting in four deaths and four injuries. Among the casualties, three were from the same family, and the fourth victim was a Chinese man.
According to reports from Malaysian media, the accident happened around 10:44 p.m. local time at kilometer 110.4 on the East Coast Expressway (LPT1) towards Kuantan in Lanchang.
Preliminary investigations by the police suggest that the accident occurred as the National Day holiday was coming to an end, with a large number of vehicles returning from major cities like Kuala Lumpur to the East Coast, causing traffic congestion at the scene.
It is believed that a cement truck suddenly lost control and crashed into the slow-moving vehicles ahead, setting off a chain reaction involving a long-distance bus, a tanker truck, and multiple sedans, SUVs, and other vehicles, leading to the collision of 11 cars, many of which were severely damaged.
The accident led to the deaths of four people, with three of them coming from the same sedan. Nur Atiqah Sofiya, a 32-year-old victim, along with her husband and their 4-year-old son, were heading to Putrajaya to celebrate the National Day for the first time.
Mohd Kazwan, Nur Atiqah’s father, recounted that on Tuesday morning around 7:50 a.m., he saw news reports on social media about the accident. He mentioned, “I saw news reports and posts on Facebook about the accident. At that time, I hoped it wasn’t my daughter because one of the cars looked very much like hers.”
“But I never imagined receiving a call confirming that it was indeed my daughter,” he said during a media interview at the mortuary of the Tanah Merah Hospital on Tuesday.
Another victim was a 55-year-old Chinese man from Shah Alam, Selangor, who was in another SUV at the time.
The accident also left four people injured, including the 52-year-old cement truck driver and an 18-year-old SUV driver who sustained serious injuries, along with two other passengers who suffered minor injuries.