Higher Education Ministry task force to investigate fatal kart racing incident

KUANTAN: The Higher Education Ministry has formed a special task force to investigate the fatal kart accident that took the lives of a father and his daughter.
Its secretary-general, Tan Sri Dr Noorul Ainur Mohd Nur, said she had been directed by Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh to set up the committee.
"The committee is made up of the event organiser and ministry officials. Its purpose is to discover what actually happened and to look into every aspect of the incident," she said after visiting survivor Muhammad Izz Daniel Izwan at Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan here today.
Meanwhile, Kuantan police chief ACP Abdul Aziz Salleh said police are investigating the incident under Section 304 (A) of the Penal Code for culpable homicide not amounting to murder which provides for maximum jail sentence of 30 years and a fine.
Factory supervisor Izwan Isa, 39, and his daughter, Nur Zulaikha, 5, were killed while watching the go-kart race at 11.30am on
Sunday.
Izwan died on the spot while Nur Zulaikha died while being treated at Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan.
Siti Suhaiza was allowed to go home on Sunday while Muhammad Izz Danial is still receiving treatment at the hospital and reported in stable condition.
Pahang Police Public Order and Traffic chief, Supt Mohd Noor Yusof Ali, said the crash occurred when three go-karts scraped against each other, causing one to skid and hit the victims.
The go-kart race, tagged as Educational Innovation Motorsports Automotive (EIMARace), is open to students of institutions of higher learning.
On Sunday, EIMARace director Prof Aminuddin Abu said the spectators who were involved in the incident should not have been standing behind the plastic barriers which was a restricted area.
Aminuddin added however that the event organisers will enhance safety aspects in future and will no longer hold such races in an open circuit.
According to Sepang International Circuit chief executive officer Datuk Razlan Razali, the Motorsports Association of Malaysia (MAM) wanted to withdraw its sanctioning for the event.
He was informed that MAM officials visited the venue twice to make sure everything in the plan was compiled with.
Attempts by theSun to contact the MAM for further comments were futile at press time.