Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi expressed his deepest condolences to families of the bus tragedy, which killed 11 people at the North-South Highway, near the Jawi toll plaza in Juru, Penang yesterday morning.

Upon receiving the news, the prime minister, who was on a day's visit to Johor, immediately phoned Works Minister S Samy Vellu who had an official programme in Penang and was also visiting the victims' families at the Sungai Bakap hospital.

"The prime minister is saddened by the large number of deaths," Samy Vellu was quoted as saying by Bernama .

He said in their conversation, Samy Vellu also briefed the prime minister on the incident which was described as the worst tragedy in the nation's highway history as many lives were lost.

Samy Vellu, who was moved to tears by the tragedy, said Abdullah also asked him to extend his condolences to all families of the victims and that they be given the necessary assistance.

Eleven killed

In the accident, 11 people were killed, nine seriously injured while 26 others sustained minor injuries when a chartered bus on its way from Ipoh to Bukit Mertajam overturned at KM160.8 of the North-South Highway near the Jawi Toll Plaza in Juru here today.

Penang police chief Christopher Wan Soo Kee said 10 of the passengers were killed instantly while the other died at the Hospital Sungai Bakap near here.

The incident occurred at 6.45am when the bus, carrying 46 passengers to the St Anne's Church in Bukit Mertajam for the St Anne's Feast, skidded at a corner in the road and overturned in a ditch.

He said the bus had earlier left a church in Buntong in Ipoh at 5.30 am.

The dead included two children.

The driver of the bus also sustained serious injuries and is currently undergoing treatment.