Perak fire and rescue department assistant director (operations) Sabarodzi Nor Ahmad said the department received a distress call at 10.36pm, and that firefighters from the Slim River and Bidor stations were dispatched to the scene.

“Upon arriving, firefighters found a 40-year-old male victim trapped in the cab of the trailer. He was confirmed dead at the scene,” he said in a statement this morning.

He said that two other victims, a lorry driver and his attendant, both 28, who had been transporting pipes, sustained minor injuries.

The 28-year-old driver of a five-tonne lorry carrying motorcycles suffered a leg injury, while the 37-year-old driver and 32-year-old passenger of the MPV escaped unhurt.

Sabarodzi said the operation was completed at 1.09am.

PLUS, in a statement on its Facebook page last night, said the accident had caused traffic congestion for 6km southbound and 4km northbound. All of the lanes had to be temporarily closed to allow the vehicles involved to be cleared.

They were reopened to traffic at 3.47am.