Alor Gajah police chief Ashari Abu Samah said the crash involved a lorry and a tour bus travelling south with 27 passengers, and three northbound vehicles – a Toyota Estima MPV, a Nissan trailer lorry and a Perodua Bezza.

Ashari said the accident began when the front right tyre of the lorry, driven by a 31-year-old man, was dislodged and landed in the middle lane.

“The tour bus then struck the detached tyre, causing the driver to lose control and swerve into the opposite lane,” he was quoted as saying in a Sinar Harian report.

The bus was then involved in a collision with a car, the trailer lorry driven by a 27-year-old man accompanied by a 16-year-old co-driver, and the MPV that was carrying a family of eight.

The vehicles involved have been seized for inspection by Puspakom, while the case is being investigated under Section 41(1) of the Road Transport Act 1987.

The dead were three men, three women and a baby boy.

Ashari said the victims included MPV driver Khairul Ikhwan Mazupi, 32, and his son, two-year-old Umar, from Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor. The other three MPV passengers killed were Fadzlenna Ramli, 32, her father, Ramli Ab Wahab, 67, and Fauziah Jaafar, 69, from Pantai Dalam, Kuala Lumpur.

Bus driver Noorisnien Khamid, 56,from Skudai, Johor, was killed together with a bus passenger, Lamrah Asid Ali, 66, a Singaporean woman.

Out of the 33 injured, 17 were taken to Melaka Hospital, 10 to Alor Gajah Hospital and six to Hospital Pantai Ayer Keroh.