TWO pupils and a school bus driver were killed this morning when the vehicle ploughed into the back of a lorry carrying steel bars outside Bintulu in Sarawak.

The 6.12am incident, which occurred at Km12 of the Bintulu-Miri coastal road, also saw a 10-year-old pupil critically injured, with a lorry attendant and six other children badly injured.

Fifteen pupils and the lorry driver escaped unhurt.

The two children killed have been identified by the Fire and Rescue Department as 11-year-old Aien Laila Aliesha and 9-year-old Nur Nabila Syakila.

The bus driver was identified as Ramnelan Samar.

Aien died at the scene, while Nur Nabila died upon arrival at Bintulu Hospital.

The Fire and Rescue Department, which dispatched 12 men, including two paramedics, said the bus driver and eight pupils were pinned to their seats in the crash.

Firefighters had to use a wide range of “rescue tools” to extricate the dead and injured.

The victims were transported via the department’s emergency rescue service ambulance to the hospital, located 42km from the scene. – January 30, 2018.