A tour bus carrying more than 30 passengers from Johor became stuck under a flyover in Taman Bagan on Saturday night after the driver followed directions from a navigation app.
The impact wedged nearly half of the coach beneath the concrete structure, shattering several windows and sending glass across the road. The incident happened at about 9pm, MalaysiaGazette reported.
Two passengers suffered minor injuries from the flying glass. Both were reported to be in stable condition.
The driver, who gave his name only as Razali, said he was taking the group to a hotel nearby before a scheduled trip to Kedah the next day. He told the Malay-language outlet that everyone on board was from Johor and that the coach had been due in Kedah.
He said he had relied on the app, which, according to NST, routed him along a path that did not account for the flyover’s height restriction.
“I heard a loud bang while driving under the flyover. Moments later, the bus’ windows shattered and glass fragments scattered everywhere. I was shocked by what happened,” he said.
Razali said he had been to Butterworth several times before, but this was his first time following the navigation app through the Taman Bagan flyover. Dark conditions and his unfamiliarity with the area left him depending entirely on the directions, he added.
A check at the scene found a 2.6m height limit sign at the underpass, along with a warning sign marking the stretch as accident-prone.
The Malay-language report identified the app as Waze and said the driver was believed to have followed a route that misjudged the clearance beneath the flyover. Its account of the driver’s explanation matched the one carried by the English daily.
Taman Bagan is a residential neighbourhood in Butterworth, on the mainland side of Penang. The flyover there carries traffic over the road beneath it, and the 2.6m clearance applies to vehicles using the underpass rather than the elevated stretch above.
The coach was left wedged beneath the structure with glass on the roadway around it. The passengers had travelled from Johor and were on the first leg of a trip that was to continue north to Kedah.
None of the injuries were described as serious. Both passengers hurt by the glass were reported to be stable after the incident.
