UPSI Student Escapes Fatal Accident After Being 15 Minutes Late Due To Traffic Jam
Nur Adilah Mohd Rusdi's mother said she is still shaken by the incident and has refused to speak to media.
Cover image via Missing the bus turned out to be a blessing in disguise for a Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) student.
She was supposed to board the ill-fated bus, which crashed along the East-West Highway (JRTB), claiming 15 lives yesterday, 9 June.
"Just being 15 minutes late was what spared my daughter from death," said Rosyidah Husien, 50, mother of Nur Adilah Mohd Rusdi, 20.
According to Bernama, Rosyidah shared that Nur Adilah, the fifth of seven siblings, was supposed to board the chartered bus transporting UPSI students from Masjid Hadhari in Jertih, Terengganu at 9pm on Sunday, 8 June.
However, heavy traffic delayed their journey. Rosyidah said her husband, Mohd Rusdi Ramli, 55, was driving their daughter to the pick-up point but arrived just after the bus had departed.
"When we called the driver, he said the bus would stop in Machang. But my husband didn't want to drive that far, so my daughter ended up hitching a ride with her uncle, Mohd Nizam Husien, who happened to be heading to Kuala Lumpur that night too," she said.
Nur Adilah left their home in Kampung Gong Bayor, Besut, around midnight with her uncle
Rosyidah said her daughter tried contacting her friends on the bus around 1am, but received no response. Then, around 2am, one of them called to inform her that the bus had been involved in an accident.
To their shock, the police also contacted Nur Adilah to inform her that she was listed as one of the bus passengers.
"Seat number nine was supposed to be hers. But last night, her friend ended up sitting there instead," the mother told Bernama.
Though relieved her daughter was safe, Rosyidah said Nur Adilah remains deeply shaken and has refused to speak with the media.
Before departing that night, Nur Adilah had spoken to her grandmother and said goodbye, mentioning that she was worried about the possibility of an accident.
"I scolded her for saying something like that, but she just smiled. Who would've thought her words would nearly come true? I'm just so grateful fate spared her last night," said Rosyidah.
She added that another of Nur Adilah's friends also escaped the tragedy after being admitted to Hospital Besut for a fever and missing the bus.
