eight people, mostly Thai tourists, were killed Monday when their double-decker bus crashed after a trip to the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia's worst-ever coach accident. Police said the Thai holidaymakers were travelling along a winding road to the capital Kuala Lumpur for a flight home when their driver lost control of the vehicle, which crashed into a road divider and overturned into a ditch. “The latest we have is that 28 people have now died in the accident, with three of them Malaysians, namely the driver, co-driver and tour guide and the rest being Thai tourists,” said Zakaria Yusof, acting state police chief. “Nine other people, all Thai tourists, were wounded in the accident and are now being treated in nearby hospitals. There were 37 people on board the bus,” said Perak state police official. Images of the accident showed the bus lying crumpled and on its roof, at the bottom of a rocky slope. Nearby the rows of victims' bodies were covered with black plastic sheeting. The injured were evacuated from the scene on stretchers by emergency workers dressed in fatigues. “Our initial findings show that the bus driver lost control of the double-decker vehicle and crashed into the road divider before toppling over and falling into the drain,” Zakaria said. The group had been on a package tour that included a journey to the Cameron Highlands, one of Malaysia's top tourist destinations, which features tea estates and strawberry plantations. Some of the approaches to the hilltop resort are narrow, windy and treacherous, but Monday's accident occurred when the bus had reached the highway. Coach crashes are relatively common in Malaysia, often involving interstate routes, and accompanied by revelations that drivers were unlicensed, speeding or under the influence of drugs to keep themselves awake. Last week, four prison officers were killed when their bus lost control and plunged into a ravine after travelling from a sports tournament. In October a collision involving two buses, a van and three cars claimed 13 lives on the nation's main North-South highway. Later that month another seven people were killed when their bus overturned en route to Kuala Lumpur. A year ago, 10 people were killed when a double-decker bus struck a road divider in northern Ipoh state. In 2007, a bus crash claimed 22 lives in what the transport minister said at the time was the worst accident of its kind in Malaysia's history. – Agence France
