A Japanese tourist died and 12 other people were injured when a tour bus smashed into the rear of a truck on a highway in Malaysia, one of Japan’s largest travel agencies said on Friday.
JTB Corp. said the crash happened on Thursday in Perak state in central Malaysia, as the bus was heading from Penang to the Cameron Highlands, a popular tourist destination dotted with tea plantations.
One woman in her 70s succumbed to her injuries and died, JTB President and CEO Eijiro Yamakita told a news conference in Tokyo.
Malaysia’s fire and rescue department said the bus was carrying three men and eight women from Japan, all senior citizens, as well as a bus driver and a local tour guide. It said all 13 victims were carried out in stretchers and taken to hospital after receiving initial treatment on site.
Yamakita said some of the survivors were seriously injured. He said their exact conditions were unknown, and that the cause of the crash was under investigation.
Pictures provided by the fire department showed the front portion of the bus badly mangled, with a shattered windscreen.