8 children among 10 victims killed in multi-vehicle crash in Malaysia

PETALING JAYA • Eight children are among 10 victims crushed to death in a multi-vehicle accident on the Elite Highway in Malaysia's Selangor state.

A crane had to be dispatched to the scene on Friday night to lift a trailer off one of the crushed vehicles.

Selangor Fire and Rescue Department director Norazam Khamis said the accident occurred at 11.42pm.

"We received a distress call and dispatched a fire engine and six personnel to the scene. They arrived at 11.54pm and began work extricating the victims," he said when contacted yesterday.

He said the accident involved a trailer, a Perodua Axia and two Proton Wiras.

"The male driver in one of the Proton Wiras died at the scene, while his female passenger survived.

"In the second Proton Wira, only one male adult survived while a woman and eight children (five boys and three girls) died at the scene," he said.

He added that in the Perodua Axia, one man suffered a broken leg and a woman sustained minor injuries. "The driver of the trailer and two children with him escaped without injury," he said, adding that they had to call in a crane to hoist the trailer which had pinned one of the Proton Wiras underneath it.

In a separate incident in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province on Friday night, a bus ran over a marriage party, leaving eight people dead and nine others injured, local media and police said.

The death toll is likely to rise as most of the wounded are in critical condition, said a hospital official.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK, XINHUA