Causeway accident: Lorry found to be carrying excessive load - Cops

JOHOR BAHRU: The lorry that rammed into 11 vehicles at the Johor Causeway heading to Singapore two days ago was found to be carrying more than the permitted load limit, said Johor police chief Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat.

He said police had raided the lorry company's office to look at the maintenance records.

"Our investigations covered various aspects and we raided the office (the lorry company) to check records in terms of lorry maintenance and so on.

"In terms of the capacity of the lorry, we found that the (permitted) weight (load of the lorry) was more (than allowed)," he said when met at Op Lancar in Jalan Tebrau here today.

He said this when commenting on the developments regarding the accident involving the lorry carrying rock dust.

KAMARUL ZAMAN-LOAD (CARGO) 2 (LAST) JOHOR BAHRU

Kamarul Zaman said the 34-year-old lorry driver who had 33 previous summonses for various traffic offences had been remanded for three days from yesterday (July 8).

He said the remand on the individual is expected to be extended if the investigation papers are not completed.

The lorry driver was detained at 1.15 pm on the day of the incident (July 7) and investigations found that the accident that occurred at 9.25 am was caused by a technical problem involving the lorry.

A total of six vehicles involved in the incident were local vehicles while the other six were foreign vehicles (including lorries).

Meanwhile, he also said Op Lancar in conjunction with Hari Raya Aidiladha which started yesterday and carries on until July 11 involves the deployment of 1,120 officers and police personnel in the state.

He added that the operation focused on smooth traffic flow, especially in the 30 accident hotspots in the state.

-- BERNAMA