IPOH: Hundreds of motorists travelling north using the North-South Expressway were stuck in a 10km long jam when an accident involving four vehicles occurred after the Menora tunnel yesterday evening.
Public helping an accident victim get out of a badly mangled vehicle involved in an accident near the Menora tunnel. -- Ikhwan Munir.
The accident which involved two 22-tyre trailers, one of which had brake failure, and two cars happened about 4.30pm at Km257.2 of the expressway.
The after-hour traffic heading northwards came to a total standstill when both the north-bound lanes were not passable.
To ease the worsening traffic build-up, highway workers opened a one-km long contra flow around 7pm to allow north-bound vehicles to start moving slowly amidst work to clear up the accident area.
Projek Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan, the highway concessionaire, was forced to close the Ipoh Utara toll plaza near Jelapang about 8.30pm temporarily to ease traffic congestion on the highway.
Through its Twitter account, PLUS advised motorists to enter the highway from Kuala Kangsar in the north.
Meanwhile, Kuala Kangsar police district chief Assistant Commissioner Abdul Ghafar Mohamad when contacted said all four vehicles were descending a steep slope of the expressway after passing through the Menora tunnel at the time of the accident.
He said one of the trailers, carrying ceiling boards, brushed against another trailer carrying bitumen causing the driver of the latter to lose control of his machine, run over a large drain before falling into a 20m ditch.
The ceiling board-laden trailer then hit two cars - a Toyota Avanza and a Nissan Latio - before overturning and coming to a halt.
A trailer that was involved in a four-vehicle accident after the Menora tunnel near Ipoh. -- Ikhwan Munir
Both cars were badly damaged but their drivers and four passengers as well as the driver of the trailer which fell into the ditch escaped with light injuries.
"However, the driver of the plywood-laden trailer, who was seriously injured, died on his way to the Ipoh hospital. The deceased has been identified as M. Ukesparen, 31.
"The trailer attendant, who happened to be the father of the deceased and whose name is Madzeya, is seriously injured and has been admitted to the Ipoh hospital," he said.
Abdul Ghafar said initial investigation showed that the ceiling board-laden trailer had developed brake problem as it was descending the slope after the Menora tunnel.
