GEORGE TOWN: A bus driver who suffered a fatal heart attack managed to pull the hand brake in time and save the lives of 20 Chinese tourists before the vehicle crashed.
Lee Kim Thai (pic), 64, was driving them to the Penang International Airport from a hotel nearby around 5.50am yesterday.
He was turning into Hutton Road from Larut Road when he had a heart attack.
He managed to slow down the bus in time and it hit the grilled entrance of a clothing shop.
It is learnt that all the passengers were safe and were on their flight back to China as at press time.
Hawker Pang Hen Kim, 65, who was at a coffeeshop less than 15m from the scene, said he heard a crashing sound.
“I came to the shop around 3am to prepare food at my stall.
“Suddenly, I heard a bang but it was not very loud. When I went out to have a look, I saw a tour guide coming down from the bus and said he had called 999, ” he said.
“I believe no one was injured as the passengers looked calm.
“The police told us the bus driver had managed to pull the hand brake before the crash and the bus was moving at a slow pace, ” he added.
Security video footage from a nearby shop showed the bus moving slowly and almost halting as it began turning at the corner.
Georgetown OCPD Asst Comm Soffian Santong said that a post-mortem showed that Lee died of coronary atherosclerosis, commonly known as coronary artery disease, in which supply of blood to the heart muscle itself is blocked.
Lee’s wife, who wished to be known as Liew, told reporters at the mortuary that her husband was diagnosed with heart disease a few months ago but he had refused to take his medication regularly.
“Although my husband went for check-ups, he did not want to take his medicine regularly, ” she said.
“He complained that he could not sleep well last night. We had talked on the phone before he left the house, ” she added.
Liew said her husband had been a bus driver for 10 years. - Star
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