KOTA KINABALU: Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor will provide six new motorcycles to replace those destroyed when villagers used their trolley bikes to help stop a runaway train with failed brakes at Kampung Pangi on Tuesday (March 4).
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State Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Industry Minister Datuk Jamawi Jaafar said the Chief Minister’s chief political secretary, Azrul Ibrahim, had informed him that Hajiji approved the contribution.
“On behalf of these youths, I extend my gratitude and appreciation to the Chief Minister for this contribution,” he added in a statement on Wednesday (March 4).
“Their deed helped slow the train before the driver managed to fully regain control,” he said.
The train, carrying about 12 people, mostly from Sekolah Kebangsaan Pangi, stopped near the Kg Pangi station. All on board were unhurt.
Villagers in Kg Pangi customise their motorcycles by attaching rail wheels, allowing them to travel on train tracks when train services are interrupted by floods or landslides.
These trolley motorcycles carry passengers and goods, linking villages to schools, markets and medical facilities when rail services are limited or unreliable.
The Sabah Railway Department has yet to comment on the incident.
