An express bus passenger was killed and 20 others were injured in a road crash involving the bus and a trailer lorry at KM214 of the North-South Expressway earlier today.

Alor Gajah police chief A Asmadi Abdul Aziz identified the deceased as Zulhaswan Za’ba, 34, who died at the scene.

According to Asmadi, the injured included the 19 passengers on the bus and the lorry driver, R Selvaraju, 48. They were sent to the Malacca General Hospital for treatment.

He said the express bus driver, Mohd Zakaria Mohd Salleh, 46, was not injured in the crash.

“The crash occurred at about 2am. Initial investigation found that the bus, which was from Kuala Lumpur and heading to the Larkin Sentral bus terminal in Johor, had crashed into the right rear side of the trailer, causing both vehicles to go out of control and then veered to the left side of the road,” he said in a statement today.

Alor Gajah Fire and Rescue Station operations commander PBK II Selomon Ismail said the station received a distress call at 1.53am and nine firefighters were sent to the scene.

- Bernama