A Chinese tourist sustained injuries to her legs after a Rapid Penang bus tyre exploded at around 2pm on Saturday (March 8).
According to a report by Sin Chew Daily, the 33-year-old tourist and her mother were riding the Penang Free CAT Bus when the left rear tyre suddenly exploded, blowing a hole through the floor of the bus and causing cuts to the tourist’s legs.
Rapid Penang apologises
In a statement shared on their Facebook page, Rapid Penang apologised for the incident and explained that the tourist had received medical treatment at the scene.
“Rapid Bus is very sorry for this incident and expresses its sympathy to the passenger involved. She received initial treatment in an ambulance as soon as the medical team arrived at the location,”
“Rapid Bus has contacted her and will provide the necessary support and assistance to ensure her well-being. We hope she recovers quickly and returns to her former health,” they shared.
They also added that they have launched an internal investigation to identify why the tyre exploded and will cooperate with the authorities accordingly.
“A thorough inspection will be carried out on the entire bus to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers. In addition, Rapid Bus will provide full cooperation to the authorities in conducting further investigations into this incident,”
“The safety and well-being of passengers is our top priority, and we are committed to continuously improving the quality of bus services for all users,” Rapid Penang said.
Ready to give up a flight
The tourist initially wanted to extend her stay in Malaysia to pursue this case, as she and her mother planned to make a police report, go to a hospital for a physical examination, and seek compensation.
For this, they were apparently prepared to give up their flight back to Shanghai at 7:40pm on the same day as the incident, Saturday (March 8).
But an alleged language barrier incident at the police station led them to take their flight instead.
“At the time, we had a communication barrier with the police at the police station, and we had to rely on machine translation to communicate with them,” the tourist shared.
This led her mother to believe that, should she continue to seek medical attention at the hospital in Penang, there would be delays as well as issues with efficiency and communications. Hence, due to these fears, they ultimately decided not to extend their stay.
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