Three people were killed when they car they were travelling in collided with a lorry at Kilometre 116.8 of the Jeli-Gerik East West Expressway near Kampung Batu Melintang here today.

Head of the Management Division at the Jeli District Police Headquarters ASP Ahmad Haizan Abdullah identified the victims who died in the 6 am crash as car driver Abdul Hakam Nordin, 19; Tuan Mohd Fareez Tuan Hazani, 26, and Mohamad Alif Nadehar Abdul Karim, 26, all from Kok Lanas in Kota Bharu.

"The car they were travelling in was heading to Gerik, Perak, when it collided with a lorry carrying motorcycles which was coming from the opposite direction.

"The lorry driver was not injured," he told reporters here.

He said the bodies were sent to Jeli Hospital for post-mortem and were later claimed by their relatives.

Meanwhile, Tuan Mohd Fareez's father, Tuan Hazani Muda, 48, said his oldest son and two friends were heading to Gerik to fetch his son-in-law, who is working there.

"I was in Besut, Terengganu, when I got a call from a policeman. At first I thought my son was detained by the police, and was shocked when told that he was involved in a road crash," he said when met at Jeli Hospital. - BERNAMA