SARIKEI: Police are trying to determine whether the entry status of the seven Indonesians who died in a road accident at KM 448 Jalan Betong-Sarikei-Meradong in Sarikei yesterday evening was legal or otherwise.
Sarikei district police chief Acting Supt Aswandy Anis said so far the identities of all seven Indonesians have not been confirmed and police have informed the Indonesian consulate-general for help in the identification process.
According to him, based on preliminary investigations, the victims were between 16 and 53 years old, while the driver of the Perodua Alza MPV ferrying them, who was also killed, was a local man with an address in Sibu and had no criminal record.
“All the bodies of the victims are in the Sarikei Hospital for post-mortem,“ he said here today.
Yesterday, all eight died in an accident involving their MPV and a four-wheel drive (4WD) pick-up truck with two people inside - the driver and a passenger.
A spokesman for the Sarawak operations centre said all the victims who died were travelling in the Perodua Alza while the driver and passenger of the four-wheel drive vehicle survived with injuries.
Meanwhile, in reconstructing the accident, Aswandy said at around 2.50 pm yesterday, a police MPV patrolling at the Jalan Jakar junction came across the suspicious Perodua Alza and ordered the driver to stop.
However, he said that in fleeing the police inspection, the driver accelerated into the opposite lane and drove against traffic while the police MPV team again sounded the siren to warn him to stop the vehicle but was ignored.
“(During the chase) When it reached the Sungai Nyelong bridge of the Pan Borneo Highway, the MPV collided with an oncoming four-wheel drive vehicle which resulted in the death of all seven passengers and the driver at the spot,“ he explained.
