Elderly woman dies after pickup truck plunges into river

MARANG: An elderly woman died after the pickup truck she was driving skidded off a bridge and plunged into the river in Kampung Bukit Perpat, Wakaf Tapai near here today.

Marang district police chief DSP Mohd Zain Mat Aris said when the police received a report of the incident at 11.19am, the nearby residents had already removed the victim Zaiton Omar, 64, who was unconscious, from her Toyota Hilux vehicle.

"The victim who was driving alone was confirmed dead by a medical personnel who arrived at the scene," he said adding that the body was sent to Hulu Terengganu Hospital for post mortem.

Meanwhile, the victim's foster son Wan Rafiyuddin Wan Mohd, 33, said it was the norm for Zaiton to drive to the village to get supplies of bananas and yam for her fried banana stall on Gong Beris.

"The deceased (Zaiton) had just collected some bananas at my house in Kampung Bukit Perpat... at about 11am I received a call from her mobile phone but it was a stranger who spoke to inform that her vehicle had plunged into the river.

"By the I time got to the scene, her body was already taken out. It is a daily routine for her to drive here alone to buy bananas, yams and mushrooms," he told reporters when met at the scene.

Wan Rafiyuddin said his foster mother who is from Kampung Lubuk Pandan near here, has a daughter who works at a hospital in Negeri Sembilan.

-- BERNAMA