GEORGE TOWN: Quick thinking by a 67-year-old factory bus driver saved the lives of eight Myanmar passengers but resulted in massive damage to five cars parked along Tingkat Paya Terubong in an accident around 7pm yesterday.
The driver, a Malaysian, had ploughed his bus into five stationary vehicles to reduce its speed after the brakes apparently failed at a steep road.
The impact of the collision managed to slow down the bus but left all vehicles involved badly mangled.
The roof of the bus was partially torn off while the cars suffered huge dents.
“The driver couldn’t use the left road shoulder because there were road works in the area,” said northeast district police head ACP Soffian Santong.
Despite the carnage, the passengers and driver only suffered light injuries and received outpatient treatment at a nearby clinic and Penang Hospital.
There were seven female passengers and one male in the bus while the driver is from Penang.
Soffian said the driver would be investigated for reckless driving.
He urged road users to be mindful when travelling along steep roads, and to be careful since the traffic volume has increased under the conditional movement control order (CMCO) where more people are returning to work.
