JEMPOL: This year's Hari Raya Aidilfitri is set to a heart-wrenching one for Wan Muhammad Hazim Wan Mohd Fauzi, whose family members were all killed in a horrific road accident in Jempol yesterday.
Hazim, 19, was the only one from his family who didn't join in the trip to send his sister, Wan Nor Athirah, 18, off to the Kuantan Vocational College following her holiday break.
That decision, however, has left him an orphan, as both his parents and four siblings were killed in a four-vehicle pileup at KM25, Jalan Keratong-Bahau near the Palong Risda plantations.
Hazim said his father, Wan Mohd Fauzi Wan Ibrahim, 51, had really wanted to go along on the trip to send Nor Athirah back to her campus.
"I couldn't join them as I had some business to attend to.
"I'm devastated. My whole family is dead," said Hazim, when met at the Jempol Hospital after he had identified the remains of his family members.
Apart from his father and sister, also dead were his mother Masnoraida M Yusoff, 45; his brothers Wan Muhammad Muhaimin, 22; Wan Mohd Amar Haziq, 13; and youngest sister, seven-year-old Wan Nor Alisya.
Police had contacted Hazim at 6pm on Sunday and told him of the tragedy.
"I had to inform my relatives of what happened. I made my way to Jempol right after breaking fast," he said.
At the hospital, Hazim made a positive identification of Nor Athirah's remains via the clothes she was wearing.
He said his family members' remains will be taken back to their hometown in Melor, Kelantan for burial after the post mortem is completed today.
In the 2.20pm accident on Sunday, the family's Proton Exora had collided with a trailer which had veered into its path.
The impact crushed the Exora and it burst into flames.
The accident also killed a husband and wife, Osman Mohamed Taip, 31 and Rosniza Othman, 32, who were in a Perodua Myvi. Their three-year-old son, who was with them, is badly injured.
The drivers of the trailer and another car in the incident were uninjured.