MELAKA: Two-year-old Muhammad Umar Khairul Ikhwan had been excited about being with his aunt and grandparents at a family gathering here and could not stop waving goodbye as they left for home in Bandar Baru Bangi.
“He waved frantically as they were leaving. He never stopped waving at me until the car disappeared from view,” said Nur Aqilah Mazupi, 30.
That was the last time she saw her little nephew alive.
Muhammad Umar was killed in a tragic five-vehicle collision on the North-South Expressway at 8.45pm on Monday along with his parents Khairul Ikhwan Mazupi and Fadzlenna Ramli, both 32. Also killed in the crash were Fadzlenna’s father Ramli Ab Wahab, 66, and mother Fauziah Jaafar, 69.
Muhammad Umar’s elder brother Muhammad Uwais Al-Qarni, seven, and his four-year-old sister Nur Sofea Humaira are also fighting for their lives at the Melaka Hospital.
A 66-year-old Singaporean, Lamrah Asid Ali, a passenger on the bus involved in the crash near Ayer Keroh, was also killed along with the driver, Noorisnien Khamid, 56, from Skudai, Johor.
Nur Aqilah said the family gathering was arranged by her brother Khairul and Fadzlenna Ramli.
Her brother and sister-in-law worked as medical assistants at the Serdang Hospital and Kuala Lumpur Hospital respectively.
“My sister-in-law also wanted to visit her family in Melaka and all of them were returning to Selangor when the accident occurred,” she said at Hospital Melaka’s Forensic Department yesterday.
Nuraqilah said the family had also just celebrated the birthdays of the three children simultaneously about a week ago.
“My late brother told me that he held the joint celebration to be fair to all his children as two of his children were December babies and another was born in February.
“The birthday bash was held at my grandmother’s house in Bangi, Selangor,” she said.
Nuraqilah said she never expected that the gathering in Melaka would be the last time she would see her brother’s family.
“My family is making burial arrangements for our loved ones,” she said.
