Twenty people were killed and several critically injured when a passenger bus in Perak overturned early today, state media reported.

The driver of the bus apparently lost control of the vehicle which skidded before overturning near a village at Km 229 of the North-South Expressway in Bukit Gantang, the Bernama news agency said.

Nineteen people, including the bus driver, died on the spot while another passenger was pronounced dead while receiving treatment at the Taiping hospital.

"It was the worst crash in the country's history," Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy told reporters after visiting the site and those who were receiving treatment at the Taiping Hospital.

"Three people were admitted to Taiping Hospital's Intensive Care Unit (ICU), six were admitted to ordinary wards and only one sustained minor injuries and received out-patient treatment. The accident was very serious," he said.

The 20th passenger to die was the one receiving treatment at the ICU.

The "Super" express bus, with 29 people on board including the driver and his assistant, was travelling from Melaka to Butterworth when it skidded while descending a hill and crashed into a railing on the left of the road before plunging into a five-metre deep drain, a police spokesperson said.

"Those killed were 13 male and seven female passengers," Bernama quoted the spoeksperson as saying. The accident happed at about 4.30am this morning.

Several foreigners, including two Indonesians, and one each from Nepal and Vietnam, were among those killed.

Human error

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi blamed human error for the crash, saying the road was well maintained and was "in first class order."

"We provide the best facility, we've maintained it well and yet human error, human carelessness, has caused the accident that involved the deaths of many people," Abdullah said in an address to a business forum.

"At this moment 19 have died," he said.

Taiping police chief ACP Raja Musa Raja Razak told reporters that police were in the process of identifying all the victims based in their identification documents that were scattered at the scene.

Preliminary information showed two Indonesians were among the dead.

Pinned inside

The injured passengers were being treated at the Taiping Hospital, some 20km from the scene of the accident.

Bernama reported that the bus ended up in a five-metre-deep ditch after crashing into a road barrier for 20 metres as the vehicle was making its way down a hill.

The spokesman said the impact caused some of the passengers to be flung out of the bus while others were pinned inside the vehicle which was reduced to a mangled wreck, its roof torn off.

Fire and Rescue Department personnel gave the injured passengers first aid treatment after pulling them out of the wreckage. They were later sent to the hospital.

A crane was used to winch up the bus to enable rescue workers to extricate the bodies.

The crash is believed to be the worst in the country involving an express bus. In November 2003, 14 people died and 28 were injured when two buses collided along the Kuala Lipis-Merapoh road in Kuala Lipis, Pahang.

Bus inspected in May

"The cause of today's crash, based on preliminary investigations, was human negligence but it has not been confirmed," said Transport Minister Chan.

A detailed investigation has begun involving all the relevant departments and agencies such as the police, Fire and Rescue Department and Road Transport Department," he added.

He said that the bus was registered in 1987 and belonged to Taiping-based Syarikat Kenderaan Bukit Gantang Sdn Bhd. Puspakom inspected the bus and gave its approval in May.

He said the bus left Malacca at about 10.30pm and had travelled about 400 km before it crashed.

"The bus had a driver and an assistant driver. We will investigate whether it had changed drivers because according to the rules, a change must be made after over two hours of driving," he said.