JERTEH: A bus driver and 27 passengers, including a bridegroom, escaped death when the bus they were travelling in skidded and overturned at Km104 of Jalan Kuala Terengganu-Kota Baru near Kampung Gerai at dawn on Saturday.

The bus driver and passengers, who sustained minor injuries, were taken by ambulances from the Civil Defence Department and the Besut Hospital to the hospital where they were given outpatient treatment, said eyewitness Badli Wahab, 33, from Kampung Gerai.

Badli Wahab said he rushed out of his house when he heard a loud thud at about 6.30am and saw an overturned bus partly landed in a drain 15 meters away.

“I got into the bus to assist unharmed passengers to help those injured, including the bridegroom,” he told reporters on Saturday.

The Maju Express, chartered by the bridegroom family, was headed for Kota Baru from Johor Baru for a wedding ceremony.

Meanwhile, the Besut traffic police said the incident allegedly occurred when the bus tried to avoid a car which veered into its path from the opposite direction.

The bus swerved to the left onto the road shoulder and landed into the drain.

– Bernama