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One dead, 12 injured after bus carrying Japanese tourists collides with truck in Malaysia
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One dead, 12 injured after bus carrying Japanese tourists collides with truck in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A Japanese tourist died and 12 others were injured when a tour bus crashed into the back of a truck on a highway in Malaysiaone of Japan’s largest travel agencies said Friday.

JTB Corp. said the accident happened Thursday in the central Malaysian state of Perak as the bus headed from Penang to Cameron Highlands, a popular tourist destination dotted with tea plantations.

A woman in her 70s succumbed to her injuries and died, JTB President and CEO Eijiro Yamakita told a news conference in Tokyo.

The Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department said the bus was carrying three men and eight women from Japan, all elderly, as well as a bus driver and a local tour guide. All 13 victims are said to have been stretchered off and taken to hospital after receiving initial treatment at the scene.

Yamakita said some of the survivors were seriously injured. He said their exact conditions were unknown and the cause of the crash was under investigation.

Images provided by firefighters showed the front of the bus badly damaged, with the windscreen smashed.

“As a travel agency, we are truly sorry for this incident and offer our sincerest apologies,” Yamakita said.

The company said it was fully cooperating with local authorities and the Japanese embassy in Malaysia and had dispatched staff from its office in Kuala Lumpur as well as Tokyo to provide support to passengers and their relatives.

Yamakita said the bus was chartered by a local tour operator and met JTB’s safety standards.

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AP writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed from Tokyo.