Holiday trip turns tragic for varsity mates, friends

REMBAU: The had completed their exams, so a group of university mates and a few friends decided a holiday trip to Pulau Tioman was what they needed to hill out.

The 10 set off in two vehicles yesterday, but things went horribly wrong about 2am.

Two of the five youths in the first vehicle were killed in a collision with an express bus on the North-South Expressway.

Passengers Hanani Abdul Razak, a 21-year-old UiTM student from Muar, and Mohd Iqbal Ismail, 22, from Taman Keramat in Kuala Lumpur, lost their lives.

The driver of the four-wheel-drive, 24-year-old Mohd Fakhrul Redza, attached to the Royal Malaysian Air Force base in Subang, and UiTM students Azira Md Azlan, 20, from Klang, and 19-year-old Ayu Helmiza, from Shah Alan, were injured.

They have been warded at the Tuanku Ja'afar Hospital (HTJS) in Seremban and are reported to be in stable condition.

Rembau police chief Deputy Superintendent Mizan Hohd Dom said the crash took place in Km230.8 of the expressway.

Fakhrul is believed to have lost control of the vehicle while trying to avoid a safety cone. It crashed into the mid-section divider and landed on the other side of the expressway.

"The driver of a north-bound express bus could not stop in time and slammed into the vehicle."

Mizan said Hanani, the eldest of three children, was pinned in the back seat of the car and died on the spot from head and body injuries. Iqbal was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

Neither the driver nor the 27 passengers in the bus were hurt.

Mohd Khairy Abd Kadir, 26, one of the five in the other car, said the group of friends was driving to Mersing to catch a ferry to Tioman for a four-day holiday.

"We were looking forward to the trip. We never expected it to end like this."

Meanwhile, in Muar, it was the most shattering news a mother could receive on Mothers Day.

Azizah Isa had just spoken to the apple of her eye, Hanani, and was looking forward to seeing her as the interior design student had just finished her semester at UiTM.

Azizah, 47, described her daughter as a bubbly girl who "aimed to make lots of money and help her family".

"Hanani was always drawing in her spare time. During the school holidays, she used to work at a batik factory here.

"She told me that I need not to worry because after graduation, she could earn a lot of money from her designs," Azizah said at her Grisek home, 40km from here.

The last time both mother and daughter spoke was about 9pm on Saturday.

"She told me she wanted to go for a holiday first before coming home for the semester break. I told her to be home quick and that we missed her.

"She came home for just a day on Labour Day (May 1) and that was the last time we saw her."

After speaking to her daughter, Azizah, who is a supervisor with PLUS Berhad and based at the Pagoh Interchange office, left for her night shift at 9.30pm.

She was informed of the accident about 4am by Hanani's close friend.

Hanani's body was laid to rest at the Grisek Muslim cemetery.

Source: NST newspaper