Another rail crash; Duo hurt

Kota Kinabalu: A five-year-old boy was seriously injured and a man slightly hurt when a train crashed into the Toyota Hilux vehicle they were travelling at a rail crossing near Kg Mandahan in Papar, on Wednesday. The boy, identified by police as Alexander Askona @ Mohd Firdaus Abd Gaffar, sustained serious head injuries, while the driver, a 24-year-old self-employed man, who is his neighbour, sustained minor injuries.

Both who are from Kg Mandahan and were rushed to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The 55-year-old train driver escaped unscathed.

Papar Police Chief DSP George Abd Rakman said preliminary investigations showed that the duo were going for a ride to Pantai Mandahan from their village when the 9.15am incident took place.

It was learnt that they were crossing the tracks when the train siren shocked the driver and at the same time the vehicle stalled on the tracks, causing the train which came from the Papar direction to crash into it, sending the vehicle spinning before landing on its roof.

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"The boy was sitting in the rear passenger seat," he said, adding that the case is being probed under Section 63 of the Railways Act 1991.

The injured duo were already sent to the hospital by the time four personnel from the Papar Fire and Rescue Department led by Operations Chief Jolis Boliking arrived at the scene located some 23km away at about 9.44am.

Several accidents involving trains have been reported over the past years, with at least one recorded fatality.

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In June 2013, one of three tourists from Hong Kong was killed when their vehicle was hit by a train near the Kota Kinabalu International Airport Terminal 1 at Jalan Lintas in Petagas.

And at least nine people were injured – including two with broken legs – when a routine train ride home nearly turned tragic for some 100 train passengers when the train hit an oil tanker-lorry at a railway crossing near the Shell station opposite the Kota Kinabalu International Airport in November 2011.

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