An eerie atmosphere hung over the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital mortuary as the bodies were brought in by two vehicles

Eerie silence at hospital mortuary

IPOH: An eerie atmosphere hung over the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital mortuary here as the bodies were brought in by two vehicles.

At 2.35pm, a police truck arrived with nine, followed by a Civil Defence Department truck with 12 bodies some 90 minutes later.

Those present at the mortuary fell silent as the black body bags were brought down from the vehicles.

Grim police, hospital and funeral parlour representatives helped to wheel the bodies into the mortuary.

Hospital staff also promptly began with post-mortem work.

As the day progressed, the remains of those who had survived the crash but died at the hospital, were brought to the mortuary.

“Never have we received so many bodies in a single day,” said a mortuary staff.

As at 8.30pm, the mortuary was still crowded with people as post-mortems continued.

Tourism Ministry officials were at hand to help the victims’ families.

Expressing his sadness over the tragedy after visiting the injured at the hospital, Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir said the state crisis response team would be investigating the accident.

He added that the state would also look into the possibility of getting accommodation for families of the victims.

He said Thai Embassy minister counsellor Somphong Kang Thong had informed him that the families would be flying in from Bangkok today.

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