‘I no longer have any sons’: Father in Malaysia loses two boys to bike crashes 7 years apart

PETALING JAYA - It is always tragic when a parent has to bury their child. Mr Jamaludin Hussin has had to do it twice in the past few years.

This time, the 53-year-old father was robbed of his only surviving son, who had been riding the same motorcycle on which his older brother was killed seven years ago, also in October.

Mr Jamaludin lost his younger son Khairil Anwar in a road accident that killed two other undergraduates of Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Dungun on Oct 9. The boys had just started their new semester on Oct 6.

Still grappling with the loss of his first son to a road accident seven years ago, Mr Jamaludin never expected he would plunge into deep despair again, but fate took a cruel turn when he received the tragic news of Khairil’s death.

The 20-year-old victim, who had been pursuing a degree in accounting science, died from serious head injuries at the scene of the accident in Jalan Pantai, Kampung Sura Hujung, a stone’s throw from UiTM Dungun in Terengganu.

“I no longer have any sons. I have lost them both to road accidents. Seven years ago on Oct 3, my older son Muhammad Khairul Izzudin was killed in Senawang, Negeri Sembilan,” the grief-stricken father said.

“Khairil was riding the same motorcycle that killed his brother. I never expected history to repeat itself. Losing a child is far different compared with the loss of a parent or sibling.

“My hands are trembling and I am feeling aimless now.”

Mr Jamaludin, who hails from Ampang, Selangor, said the last time he and his wife Norma Mohammed Nor, 52, saw Khairil was when they drove him to Dungun to start his new semester at UiTM.

He said the victim, who was the youngest of five siblings, was hard-working and often took up part-time jobs during semester breaks.

“Before he returned to UiTM, he gifted his mother a gold bar that he bought with the wages he had earned working part-time at a coffee shop.

“His death is a great loss to me and my family, but we have come to accept it as fate and God’s will,” he added.

The two others who perished in the Oct 9 accident were Ku Adib Aizab Ku Azmi, 20, also an accounting undergraduate, and Muhammad Akmal Tukirin, 25, who was pursuing a degree in food service management.

A fourth victim, Muhammad Ammar Danish Mohd Ridhuan, 20, from Kuala Lumpur, suffered serious injuries and is being treated in hospital.

Ku Adib Aizab’s mother Hafizah Iszahanid, who is an assistant editor with Malaysian daily Berita Harian, and his father Ku Azmi Saad, an employee of a sister company of The New Straits Times Press, were on their way to a pilgrimage at Mecca when the tragedy occurred.

The couple had landed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, just two hours after Ku Adib Aizab was killed, and they caught the next fight to Malaysia hours after being informed of their son’s death.

At 7.35pm on Oct 9, a 49-year-old housewife driving a sports utility vehicle on Jalan Pantai near UiTM, Dungun, allegedly crashed the vehicle into the rear of two motorcycles the victims were on.

Three of the riders were killed at the scene after being thrown from their motorcycles, with one landing in a drain.

The victims, who suffered serious head and bodily injuries, were returning to campus after having dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Terengganu deputy police chief Wan Rukman Wan Hassan said that based on early investigations, the housewife, who is a mother of three, is believed to be suffering from a mental health condition.

He said she was taken to court on Oct 10, where a four-day remand order was obtained against her.

The remains of the three students were claimed by their families on Oct 10, after the post-mortem was completed at Dungun Hospital’s forensic unit at 9am.

Muhammad Akmal was laid to rest on Oct 10 at Kampung Parit Baru Muslim cemetery in Muar, Johor, while Ku Adib was buried at Raudhatul Aliyah Saujana Utama Muslim cemetery in Sungai Buloh. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK