IPOH: Ng Poh Ngoh, 23, one of the 10 passengers killed in the express bus tragedy near here today, was due to report for work on Jan 4.

Her father Ng Chin Beng, 62, said Poh Ngoh, the eldest girl among four siblings, was returning home to Alor Star after attending a job interview in Kuala Lumpur and was scheduled to start in her job on Jan 4.

"She had a bright future ahead but it's now all over," he told reporters outside the mortuary of the Raja Permaisuri Bainun hospital here.

Hardly able to control his grief, he said Poh Ngoh had only recently graduated in the multimedia field from Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) and that the family had placed high hopes on her.

Chin Beng added that his youngest child, Kah Kit, 14, who was also killed in the tragedy, had followed his sister to Kuala Lumpur for sightseeing in conjunction with the school holidays.

Khairil Shahrin, 24, the eldest child of Shaharin Mohd Nor, 61, and Supiah Adam, 46, who also lost their lives in the tragedy, said they told him to take good care of his siblings while he was sending them to the bus terminal in Section 17 Shah Alam before they boarded the ill-fated bus for the journey to Perlis.

He said they were going to Kangar to bring back a company vehicle.

Meanhwile, Abdul Ghafur Sukimi, 53, who lives here, said he rushed over to the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital after watching the 7am television news bulletin in which the names of his nephew Mohd Bilal Osman, 22, and his (Mohd Bilal's) friend Mohd Shukri Mohd Ali, 22, were mentioned as being killed in the tragedy.

"I then contacted Mohd Bilal's mother and was told the police had already contacted the family at 6.30am on the matter. She then asked me to make arrangements for Mohd Bilal's body to be brought back for burial in Sungai Besar, Selangor.

"The two of them were very close friends neighbours in Sungai Besar. They were on their way to Perlis to register for the second semester of studies at Universiti Malaysia Perlis (Unimap),' he said.

The tragedy happened when a double-decker Sani Express bus skidded and hit the road divider at Km272.8 of the North-South Expressway as it was heading north, about 8km after the Ipoh Selatan toll plaza.

Two people were also injured, one seriously while the two drivers and the 36 other passengers on board were unhurt.

The others killed were Musa @ Ismail Abdullah, 64, from Gurun, Kedah; Noor Jismi Noordin, 25, from Kangar, Perlis; Sharifah Raheel Al-Junid Syed Harun, 21, and her sister Sharifah Hasanah, 15, of Sungai Petani, Kedah.

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