GEORGE TOWN: The driver of the ill-fated factory bus which crashed into a flyover in Bayan Lepas claimed that he had deliberately crashed the vehicle after the brakes failed.
D. Ashogan, 49, said as he was approaching the corner of the Hilir Sungai Keluang 1 traffic lights, his brakes got 'spongy'.
“I stepped on the brakes but the bus did not stop. I drove on and crashed into the hoarding,” he said referring to an under-construction elevated road near the Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah Bridge.
Ashogan escaped death, sustaining minor injuries to his head.
Forty-five others, mostly women, have been warded at the Penang Hospital for injuries ranging from minor cuts to serious head injuries.
In the 6am accident, Ashogan was driving the workers to the Free Industrial Zone in Bayan Lepas on the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway (Batu Maung-bound).
The factory bus’ roof ripped off upon impact with the under-construction flyover.
Firemen who arrived minutes later managed to free the trapped driver, and others from the wreckage.
Penang police chief Datuk Abdul Rahim Hanafi said the accident will be investigated under Section 43 (1) of the Road Transport Act for careless and inconsiderate driving.
Meanwhile, Penang Hospital director Dr M. Sukumar said two victims were in critical condition, while seven others were seriously injured but stable.
“We have discharged 14 others after receiving outpatient treatment while 37 others sustained light injuries,” he said in a statement today.