Pedestrian roof blown off, five injured

Heavy storm and causes chaos on the highway and injures motorist.

JOHOR BAHARU: The roof of a pedestrian bridge at the Perling-Pasir Gudang Highway nearby Taman Kobena was blown off in a heavy downpour at about 4.30 pm today, causing two men and three women to be injured.

Johor Baharu Fire and Rescue Department senior operations commander Omera Omar said two cars, a lorry and a motorcycle passing through the highway were damaged in the incident.

“Two men and three women were injured. The men were the driver of the one-tonne lorry who is in his 50s and the other the driver of a car in his 30s,” he told reporters at the scene.

He said the three women, all in their 30s, were in one car, a Toyota Vios.

Firemen rescued the lorry driver who was trapped in his cabin and rushed him to a nearby hospital while the rest of the injured were assisted by passing motorists, he said.

He added that the department had despatched a fire engine with nine personnel upon receiving a call on the incident at 4.36 pm and arrived at the site at 5.05 pm.

Meanwhile, Johor Baharu North police chief ACP Mohd Khamsani Abd Rahman said policemen were despatched to control traffic in the aftermath of the incident.

The pedestrian bridge links Taman Melati and Taman Kobena in Tampoi, Johor Baharu.

The driver of a Honda Jazz car who escaped injury in the incident said he was thankful nothing serious happened to him.

Only wanting to be known as Tan, 30, he said he was on his way from Desa Tebrau to Tampoi when all of a sudden the roof of the pedestrian bridge came flying down and hit his car.

“I stopped my car and tried to open the door but it was stuck. Panicked I broke down the car window on my side and escaped to safety,” Tan, who is married, told reporters at the scene.

He sustained light injuries in the shoulder and head.

- BERNAMA