TAPAH: Parvinder Singh is used to seeing accidents but what he saw yesterday morning will forever be etched in his memory.
The Workshop on Wheels (WOW) employee, who attends to motorists in distress along the North-South Expressway, cheated death when a tour bus skidded right past him and rammed into his car before overturning and catching fire.
"I was standing outside my car at the time, about to remove a lorry tyre that was lying on the fast lane. I was waiting for a suitable moment to do it but within seconds, the tour bus hit the tyre and swerved towards my car," Parvinder said.
Although stunned, he quickly regained his composure and called the PLUS hotline for help.
"I managed to pull four or five victims out of the bus which was already on fire,” the 35-year-old said.
"Unfortunately, I was unable to free one elderly man. He was pinned under the wreckage," Parvinder said, adding that he saw the driver being flung out of the bus.
The other victims, he said, crawled out through shattered windows.
“I have not slept since the incident. It keeps on playing in my mind. I had a close brush with death," said.
Bus driver M. Jayagunasgaran had planned to celebrate Ponggal with his family.
His sister, Lailakavariy, 47, said: “We already bought earthen pots and other items for Ponggal and were supposed to be at a family gathering in Parit Buntar.
“But Jayagunasgaran couldn’t find someone to take his place. So, had to drive,” she told reporters at the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital.
Lailakavariy said her brother had nearly 20 years of experience in driving buses and this was his first ever accident.
“The family is in shock,” she said,.
Fishmonger Ong Huat Hoo, 57, said his wife Sin Ah Guat, who was killed in the crash, had taken the place of a relative who couldn’t make the trip.
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