Four men die in car-lorry collision at Elite Highway

PUTRAJAYA: Four men on a business trip to Penang were killed after their Proton Waja crashed into the rear of a static truck on KM29.5 of the Elite Highway heading to Shah Alam.

Selangor Fire and Rescue department operations director Mohd Sani Harul said firefighters arrived at the scene at around 5.30am after receiving the distress call at about 5.15am on Wednesday.

“Firefighters extricated the victims out of the Waja, which was trapped underneath the crushing weight of the lorry.

“They were pronounced dead on arrival at Hospital Putrajaya,” he added.

The deceased were identified as Mazuan Malik, 42, Kalaiselvan Subramaniam, 41, Murugan Nagalingham, 41 and Gopi Narayanasamy, 28.

Mazuan, Murugan and Gopi were said to be from Johor while Kalaiselvan was from Seremban.

Sepang OCPD Supt Mohd Yusoff Awang said Gopi was driving the Waja when it skidded off the road and rammed into the lorry parked in the emergency lane.

“The 33-year-old truck driver, who was at the scene, said he had to stop the vehicle due to a punctured tyre,” he explained.

Meanwhile, family and friends of Murugan were distraught when met at the mortuary on Wednesday noon.

A relative, who wishes to be known only as Citra, said Murugan leaves behind his wife and five children aged between eight and 12-years-old.

“His family were all at home in Segamat, Johor, when they received the bad news.

“We will be bringing his remains back home for the funeral,” she added.

Citra said she received a call from Murugan at 11.30pm Tuesday, telling her that he will be in Kuala Lumpur for the weekend.

“Murugan would always call us up whenever he’s in town to go out for a meal. 

“The next morning I received another call from his friend- telling us that Murugan had died in an accident,” she lamented.

A childhood friend of Murugan, who wants to be known only as Selvam, said Murugan and his colleagues had borrowed the wrecked Waja from another friend to drive to Penang.

“We contacted the owner of the Waja when we saw photos of the crash posted on Facebook.

“That was when he relayed the bad news to us,” he added.