KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A Japanese tourist died and 12 other people were injured when a tour bus smashed into the rear of a truck on a highway in Malaysia, one of Japan's largest travel agencies said Friday.
JTB Corp. said the crash happened Thursday in Perak state in central Malaysia, as the bus was heading from Penang to the Cameron Highlands, a popular tourist destination dotted with tea plantations.
One woman in her 70s succumbed to her injuries and died, JTB President and CEO Eijiro Yamakita told a news conference in Tokyo.
Malaysia's fire and rescue department said the bus was carrying three men and eight women from Japan, all senior citizens, as well as a bus driver and a local tour guide. It said all 13 victims were carried out in stretchers and taken to hospital after receiving initial treatment on site.
Yamakita said some of the survivors were seriously injured. He said their exact conditions were unknown, and that the cause of the crash was under investigation.
Pictures provided by the fire department showed the front portion of the bus badly mangled, with a shattered windscreen.
“As a travel agency, we are truly sorry about this incident and offer our deepest apologies,” Yamakita said.
The company said it is fully cooperating with local authorities and the Japanese embassy in Malaysia, and has sent staff from its Kuala Lumpur office as well as from Tokyo to provide support for the passengers and their relatives.
Yamakita said the bus was hired by a local tour operator, and that it met JTB’s safety standards.
AP writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed from Tokyo.
This handout photo provided by the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department shows officers carry an injured out from a tour bus that smashed into the rear of a lorry in Taiping, Perak State, Malaysia, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department via AP)
This handout photo provided by the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department shows officers at the site where a tour bus smashed into the rear of a lorry in Taiping, Perak State, Malaysia, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department via AP)
GOMA, Congo (AP) — Fighting between the Congolese army and the M23 rebel group intensified in eastern Congo in recent days ahead of much anticipated peace talks on Sunday, the army said.
Congo's army accused the M23 of killing 12 civilians earlier this week in villages of the Lubero territory in the eastern province of North-Kivu in a statement on Friday. An M23 spokesperson told The Associated Press it denied the accusation, discrediting it as “propaganda” from Congo's government.
M23 is one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo near the border with Rwanda, in a conflict that has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. More than 7 million people have been displaced.
Congo and the United Nations accuse Rwanda of backing M23. Rwanda denies the claim, but in February admitted that it has troops and missile systems in eastern Congo to safeguard its security, pointing to a buildup of Congolese forces near the border. U.N. experts estimate there are up to 4,000 Rwandan forces in Congo.
Last month, Congo and Rwanda’s foreign ministers agreed on the terms and conditions of the disengagement of Rwandan forces in eastern Congo.
In July, Congo signed a ceasefire with M23 that came into effect in August, but fighting has resumed since. Earlier this month, the United States said it was “gravely concerned” by ceasefire violations by M23 rebels.
The intensification of fighting comes as Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame are set to meet Sunday in Angola, which has been mediating the conflict. It will be their first official meeting since last year.
Aline Kasereka, a mother of six living in Lubero, a town 50 kilometers (30 miles) away from the villages where the fighting took place earlier this week, said the peace talks are urgently needed.
“We are tired of the war, every day we move, we do not know in which country we are anymore," Kasereka told the AP. "Our authorities have to sit on the negotiation table and find a solution because we want to return to our normal life," she added.
Henry Pacifique, analyst for the Kivu Security Barometer research project, says he remains pessimistic about the outcome of the summit.
"It seems like Angola is trying to force Congo and Rwanda to participate, while both parties continue to make the other the scapegoat to justify future violations of the agreement,” he said.
FILE - M23 rebels stand with theirs weapons in Kibumba, in the eastern of Democratic Republic of Congo, Dec. 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa, File)
