The operator of the express bus involved in the accident that killed 14 people and injured 16 others at KM137.3 of the North-South Highway (northbound) early this morning, is prepared to pay the cost of managing the deceased and injured victims.

Syarikat Bas Goldstar (M) Sdn Bhd's Southern Region chief supervisor Steven Chong, 52, said the company would arrange for all the expenses in transporting all victims in the accident.

"Our company will manage and handle all the deceased first before attending to the injured victims including their insurance and the delivery of the remains of the deceased victims.

"We are also prepared to offer whatever cooperation to assist the next of kins and victims of the tragedy," he told reporters when met at the grounds of the Sultanah Fatimah Specialist Hospital Morgue, here today.

Chong explained that the bus from Johor Bahru to Kuala Lumpur should have left Larkin Bus Terminal at 12.30am today, but had to be delayed until 1.30am due to traffic congestion.

Chong said the company was now gathering full details of all the victims involved for further action.

On the bus driver, he said the driver, Zakeer Zubir, 32, who also died in the accident, had just joined the company more than a month ago.

"We had just received information that the driver had also brought along his wife and daughter on the bus. His daughter was killed while the wife was injured," he said.

Meanwhile, Chong said the accident was the first to have happened throughout the approximately 30 years that the company was in operation.

In the incident early this morning, the express bus crashed into a 10-metre ravine before hitting the concrete wall of the tunnel at Kampung Jayor, near the Pagoh Rest and Service Area.

Fourteen people died in the accident while 16 others were injured including six Singapore and two Myanmar nationals. -- BERNAMA