Brother's assurance to reach home ends in fatal crash

"We are on my way home. If all goes well, we will be there by 2 (am)."

That was lorry driver Mohd Zaki Mamat's assurance to his sister, Hamidah, last night when he said he and wife and the couple's four children would arrive at his mother's house in Kampung Demit, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan.

In the 7pm conversation, Hamidah, 52, had just spoken to her brother for the last time in her life.

Almost two hours later, the Proton Exora the family was travelling in, skidded and collided head-on with a Honda Civic at the 106km Jalan Kuantan-Segamat stretch here last night.

Mohd Zaki, 47, wife Jamilah Hussen, 46, and two of their children, Muhammad Zamil Izzuddin, 19, and Muhammad Zamil Syazwan, 14, were killed on the spot in the 8.50pm crash.

Two other children, Siti Nurjeha, 18, and Siti Nur Nabila, 10, were seriously injured in the collision which initial police investigations revealed was due to the Proton Exora's burst front left tyre.

The driver of the Honda, Zulkifli Abdullah, 47, sustained head and body injuries.

Hamidah said when Mohd Zaki called her about 7pm, she wasted no time in preparing the beddings for his family at their mother's home, located next door to her house in Kampung Demit.

"However, about 9pm, my other brother Mohd Fadli, 36, a fireman in Melaka called to say that Mohd Zaki and the family were involved in an accident.

"We rushed over here at 10pm after being told two of them (family members) had died.

"However, while we were on the way, we received news that four had died. We turned back to Kubang Kerian to fetch other family members before leaving at 1am," she told reporters when met at the Muadzam Shah Hospital mortuary here today.

Hamidah said it was normal routine for her brother and his family to make the trip home during school holidays to visit their ailing mother and attend weddings in the village.

Meanwhile, Jamilah's sister, Asnah, 50, said her family originated from Christmas Island, Australia and her sister (Jamilah), the fifth of six siblings returned to Melaka in the 80s to attend school there.

Asnah said three of her siblings in Australia had taken the morning flight to make it to the funeral scheduled after the Asar prayers at Kampung Bacang, Melaka today.