Hundreds pay their last respects to the four members of a Singaporean family who were killed in a grisly accident in Port Dickson when they were buried late yesterday evening.
Three hearses containing the four bodies left the Port Dickson Hospital at around 5.50pm yesterday, after being prepared for their funeral rites in a mosque there before making their final journey home to Singapore.
They were escorted by Port Dickson police to the Seremban-Johor highway as a gesture of goodwill, said the town’s police chief Zainudin Ahmad.
It was learned that the deceased driver Rosli Samad’s brother, who lives in Johor, went to Port Dickson on Wednesday night to identify the bodies.
Rosli’s eldest son, along with other members of the family, were at the Port Dickson Hospital on Thursday morning.
On arrival in Singapore last night, the remains were taken to the Masjid Pusara Aman mosque in Lim Chu Kang Road before they were buried at Choa Chu Kang Cemetery where hundreds turned up to pay their last respects.
Meanwhile, a second video of the harrowing incident has emerged, showing another perspective of the lorry speeding through the T-junction and ploughing through the ill-fated Honda Stream with the four family members.
The accident in Jalan Lukut Sepang, Port Dickson, on Wednesday at around 2.30pm also saw the lorry hitting a Mercedes-Benz SUV, a Perodua Myvi and a motorcycle.
The three passengers – Maimunah Sapari, 51, and her daughters Nur Amalina Rosli, 21, and Dayana Sarah Rosli, 18 – died at the scene.
(L-R) Nur Amalina Rosli, Rosli Samad, Maimunah Sapari, Dayana Sarah Rosli.
Rosli Samad, 54 – Maimunah’s husband and the girls’ father – who was behind the wheel, succumbed to severe injuries while being sent to the Seremban Hospital.
It was reported that a witness, 23-year-old Emera Hamid, a saleswoman at a sundry shop located adjacent to the crash site, said that seconds before the incident, the lorry was going downhill and it looked like the driver was speeding.
“The lorry driver tried to run away after the accident, prompting passers-by to chase him.
“Some people even started throwing rocks in a bid to stop him. He then ran to a shop nearby but was thrown out by the owners, forcing him to run away,” she was quoted as saying.
The 54-year-old lorry driver fled the scene on foot but subsequently turned himself in at the Lukut police station, at around 5.30pm.
He has been remanded for four days, until Jan 7, as part of investigations into the accident.
The case will be investigated under Section 41 (1) of the Road Transport Act (APJ) 1987.
Singapore media reported that Maimunah had planned to leave her job as a dental nurse after her trip so that she could be a full-time grandmother. Her eldest son’s first child is due soon.
Maimunah’s niece, entrepreneur Lisa Elias, 40, told The New Paper that the fatal journey was meant to be a recce trip for a bigger family holiday in Malaysia that she was supposed to join.
“Our family travels together quite often and we were all meant to go again during Chinese New Year. They were supposed to come back so we could all go together,” she was quoted saying, adding that her aunt’s family were tight-knit and loving.
The four family members had left Singapore on the morning of New Year’s Day. They had stopped in Johor Baru for lunch with Maimunah’s brother Jamil Sapari before proceeding to Kuala Lumpur and Port Dickson. The fatal accident happened when they were starting their journey home to Singapore.
She recounted the dilemma her family faced when it came to telling her grandmother, 85, who had just been discharged after a breast cancer operation.
“We didn’t want to tell her, but her son and her family were involved. So we did, and she broke down after she found out,” Lisa was quoted saying.
Niezam Ab Rasid, learned of the accident via WhatsApp when a friend circulated a video of the accident and he recognised the Singapore-registered Honda Stream as belonging to one of his uncles, Rosli’s brother.
Soon, family members began calling one another frantically, Rosli’s nephew told TODAY, adding that they were all very shocked and trying to find answers to what had happened.
He revealed that his cousins Amalina and Dayana were students at Republic Polytechnic and ITE College West, respectively.
It was reported that Amalina was looking forward to attending classes with her peers and had paid the course fees for her UK-degree programme.
The two surviving sons of the family are civil servant Muhammad Asyraf, 27, and Muhammad Hamka, 24, who works in his father’s motorcycle workshop. They were not with their parents and two sisters on the tragic trip.
Earlier report: Jan 4, Lorry Driver in Accident That Killed Singaporean Family Remanded