Three Youths Killed In Kuala Belait Car Crash
By Liza Mohd

Kuala Belait - Three youths lost their lives when a car crashed into a tree in the Belait District yesterday.

The tragic mishap saw a 23-year-old man and 19- and 21-year-old women die on the spot when their saloon car smashed into a tree at Km 37 in Jalan Tunggulian around 2 am.

Three other passengers, two men and a woman, escaped death but are currently in the Suri Seri Begawan Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

All the victims were on their way to Kuala Belait from Bandar Seri Begawan when their car warped itself around a tree ending up as a unrecognisable mass of twisted steel and brunt tyers.

The driver's side suffered the maximum damage. One of the survivors is believed to be a government school student.

According to police officials, the Sg Liang police station received the news about the accident at about 2.30 am, when one of the survivors hitched a ride to the police station.

The police also stated that during the accident, the road was dry and they would continue to investigate the cause of the accident.

Jalan Tunggulian is known to be an accident-prone area and many road signs have been put up urging car users to take extra precautions such as avoid overtaking.

Meanwhile at about 12 in the afternoon yesterday, the driver of a pizza delivery motorcycle was thrown off his vehicle after he collided with a car at a busy road along Jalan Maulana.

A woman who was driving the car stated that she was about to turn right towards Kuala Belait to fetch her daughter from school at the W10 junction and saw the pizza delivery motorcycle heading towards Seria signaling to the left indicating that he was about to turn left into the junction.

Assuming that the pizza delivery motorcycle was turning left, the woman got out of the junction but the pizza delivery motorcycle headed straight and thus caused a collision, according to the woman.

The pizza deliveryman was rushed to the hospital. He has reportedly sustained head injuries. The woman escaped unhurt.

Another minor accident also occurred at Jalan Pandan 8 but the driver escaped unhurt.

Police officials stated that this year alone car accidents within KB District had claimed four lives including yesterday's accident.

Last year 10 people died in 10 separate car accidents, eight of them being drivers and two passengers. There were 516 road accident cases were reported that year including 279 car collisions, 213 cases of self accident, 7 cases of cars colliding with bicycles, 2 cases of cars knocking down pedestrians, 8 cases of cars crashing into motorcycles and 7 cases of cars colliding with animals. Of the 516 reported cases last year, four suffered grievous injuries.

Police officials have urged the public to take extra precautions while driving especially during rainy season. Police have also advised cyclists to fix their bicycles with lights to alert their presence to car drivers especially in dark areas. (Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin)

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