On the scene: The luxury car and the trailer which were razed in the fire.
MELAKA: Tan Hong Ta is a very lucky man. He managed to escape a fiery death or critical burns at the minimum just by not sitting in his car.
The 36-year-old factory manager’s car suffered a punctured front tyre while he was on the way from Johor Baru to Kuala Lumpur to attend a business meeting.
“I stopped on the emergency lane and waited for almost two hours under the hot sun for a tow truck.
“I decided to get out of the car and stood away from the road,” he said when met at KM199.7 of the North-South Expressway (northbound) near the Ayer Keroh toll plaza yesterday.
When the tow truck arrived at 2.40pm and was moving into the towing position, a tanker collided with a trailer that was behind the tow truck.
“The tanker caught fire right next to my car,” Tan said, adding that he quickly ran away from the burning tanker. His car caught fire in the process.
Tan was glad that he had kept a distance from his car. He had heard about fatal accidents involving vehicles crashing into stalled cars with people still inside.
He was also thankful that there were no fatalities given the seriousness of the accident.
Melaka Fire and Rescue Department’s senior fire officer Mohd Sany Sahari said the car and the tanker, which was transporting palm oil, were destroyed in the accident.
“The tanker driver suffered 40% burns to his body and was given medical treatment by the Emergency Medical Rescue Services team before being rushed to Hospital Melaka,” he said.
The accident was the second one in the state on the same day.
Earlier, an express bus driver was seriously injured while eight others sustained injuries in an accident involving eight vehicles at the Lebuh Sungai Udang-Paya Rumput-Alor Gajah (SPA) highway in Ayer Keroh.
Melaka Fire and Rescue Department’s director Mohd Pisar Aziz said they received information about the accident at 10.38am involving 15 victims, including two women.
The express bus was empty when the accident happened.
