GEORGE TOWN (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Angered that a RapidPenang bus did not stop where she wanted, a woman in Malaysia stabbed the driver several times before fleeing. The 27-year-old driver may now lose his leg.

Apparently, the knife punctured the main vein on his right leg.

Mr Aisyamudin Yaacob, who only started work two months ago, was driving the bus uphill to Bukit Paya Terubong when the incident took place at about 6.50am yesterday.

RapidPenang group communications and strategic marketing head Rafidah Abdul Karim said the bus plying the 502 route from the Weld Quay bus terminal to Balik Pulau and was practically empty "except for the attacker and an Indonesian woman".

"Aisyamudin managed to hit the panic button that informed the command centre of the attack," she said.

"Another RapidPenang bus passing the scene minutes later stopped to help," said Ms Rafidah at the Penang Hospital where Mr Aisyamudin was admitted.

"Aisyamudin told the driver of the other bus what had happened before losing consciousness.

"His colleague then alerted the police and called the ambulance," she said.

"Apparently, the woman wanted Aisyamudin to stop the vehicle by the roadside, before the designated bus stand," Ms Rafidah said.

"When Aisyamudin did not, the woman got angry," she said.

The bus has a GPS system but not CCTV. "Only new vehicles were equipped with such cameras," Ms Rafidah said.

The police officer in command of Georgetown, Assistant Commissoner Mior Faridalatrash Wahid, said the police were tracking down the attacker in her 40s, believed to be mentally unsound.

"She fled after the incident. We are confident of nabbing her soon," he said, adding that the other passenger on board the bus went missing too.