A tragic accident took the lives of 19 people in northern Malaysia on Monday morning, the police informed.

The accident occurred on a main road in the northern state of Perak, where a bus with 28 people on board skidded off the highway and crashed into a five-metre ditch, 18 passengers and the driver being killed on the spot.

Ten people were also injured and taken to a nearby hospital, the police informing that among the fatalities were six women and two Indonesian citizens.

This is considered to be the worst road accident in Malaysia’s history, as the country Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy said while visiting the crash site. He said the roof was torn off by the tremendous force of the impact and some people were thrown out of the vehicle.

The bus was heading towards the northern state of Kedah and was allegedly speeding down a hill when the driver apparently lost control over the vehicle that crashed through a road barrier and plunged into a deep trench.