Two Indians died and 20 others were injured when a tourist bus carrying them met with an accident in western Malaysia on Monday, following which the Indian government established a helpline to provide information about the victims.
The bus carrying 24 people, including two drivers, lost control, hit the road divider and crashed on the other side of at the Kuala Lumpur-Karak Highway while coming down from the hill resort of Genting Highlands, initial reports said.
Two Indians were killed in the crash and their fellow travellers were injured when the speeding bus overturned on the winding mountain road.
The Star daily said fire rescue personnel were sent to the site after the accident, and initial investigations showed that the bus was speeding.
All the passengers were from Punjab.
The fatalities were a woman in her 50s and a man, who died on the way to hospital.
Indian High Commission sources in Kuala Lumpur told PTI that they were in regular touch with authorities and were proactively following up the case.
The sources said the injured were admitted to Selayang and Kuala Lumpur hospital.
According to Kuala Lumpur Hospital’s Emergency and Trauma Department head Dr Abu Hassan Asaari Abdullah, four of the victims were in critical condition.
In New Delhi, a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs said that the mission officials had reached both hospitals and were ascertaining the names of the injured.
The High Commission of India in Kuala Lumpur has also established a helpline to provide information about the victims.
The drivers, in their 20s, have been detained by police to facilitate investigations.
