ALOR SETAR, March 9: A lorry fully laden with tomatoes overturned while being towed at KM71.4 of the North-South Expressway (PLUS) southbound near Pendang today and blocked the thoroughfare.
Pendang district police chief Supt Rodzi Abu Hassan said the PLUS Traffic Monitoring Centre reported the accident at around 10.30 am.
“Preliminary investigations found that the accident involved a tow truck and a lorry. It is believed to have occurred while the tow truck was towing the (broken-down) lorry from Changlun to Selayang, Selangor.
“When they reached the scene, the locking mechanism beneath the lorry’s cabin detached, causing the tow truck to go out of control and veer into a roadside ditch. The lorry carrying the tomatoes overturned across the road, completely blocking the southbound lane,” he said in a statement.
Pendang Fire and Rescue Station chief Zulkifli Manaf said they received a distress call at 10.15 am and arrived at the scene 30 minutes later.
“No casualties were reported. Six firefighters from Pendang were deployed to clear oil spills caused by the accident while the lorry workers cleaned up the tomatoes scattered on the road,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Highway Authority, in a Facebook post, said that clearance work was underway. All southbound lanes were closed, causing traffic congestion for six kilometres.
— BERNAMA