KUALA LUMPUR: Negligence and wet weather are identified as the main factors causing the accident involving the army's armoured car transport vehicle near Genting Sempah earlier this month.
Army Chief General Tan Sri Muhammad Hafizuddeain Jantan stated that the investigation board has concluded its probe and identified these factors as the cause of the accident.
"The first factor is the wet weather, which made the road slippery.
"Another is negligence involving the driver of the vehicle, who was driving beyond the appropriate speed set by the standard operating procedure (SOP)," he said at a press conference at Wisma Pertahanan on Friday (Nov 29).
General Muhammad Hafizuddeain emphasised that the army will not compromise on taking action against any negligence, whether by the driver or the supervisor.
"A military convoy movement has a strict SOP that must be adhered to.
"Thus, we will take action against the personnel or the officers involved based on military regulations.
"Part of the SOP requires the convoy to have escorts and to drive according to the permitted speed," he said.
The SOP is strict because the army does not want such convoys to jeopardise the safety of army personnel or other road users, he added.
"We also have to ensure the safety of our assets, thus we have to be very careful," he said.
The transport vehicle suffered RM182,000 worth of damages.
"We will have it repaired.
"However, the armoured vehicles did not sustain any damage," he said.
On Nov 7, one of the army's armoured car transport vehicles was involved in an accident at KM35.2 near the Genting Sempah tunnel heading towards the Gombak toll Plaza.
The vehicle was transporting two armoured vehicles belonging to the 7th Battalion of the Royal Ranger Regiment when the incident occurred at about 4.45pm.
The vehicle was part of six transport vehicles carrying 12 armoured vehicles from Kem Batu 10 in Kuantan to Kem Syed Sirajuddin in Gemas for elevated combat training.
An initial report revealed that the transport vehicle was trying to avoid a trailer, which suddenly changed lanes.
The other transport vehicles in the convoy managed to continue their journey to Kem Perdana Sungai Besi.
