Yesterday (9th Nov, Sunday), The Star Online reported that 2 Singaporeans were killed after their Porsche 911 Turbo crashed into the road divider of the KL-Seremban Expressway in Desa Petaling.. They were travelling along KM3.8 of the highway at about 2:30am Sunday, when tragedy struck. City traffic police identified the duo as race car driver Kwek Kon Chun, 35, and photographer Franco Toh, 43. It is believed that Kwek lost control of the vehicle.
“They may have been travelling at high speed. The car spun out of control and crashed into the metal road divider,” said Kuala Lumpur Staff Officer for Traffic Investigation and Regulation Deputy Supt Markandan Subramaniam. He said that a 20m steel rail from the divider impaled into the car through the driver’s side, pinning Kwek and Toh inside.
KL Fire and Rescue Department operations chief Azizan Ismail said 5 officers took an hour to cut through the twisted wreck to extract the bodies. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene at about 3:30am Sunday.
Singaporean paper The Straits Times gave more insight to the devastating accident when they reported that driver Kwek Kon Chun co-owned Neverland Group, which runs several nightspots, including club Sonar at Orchard Hotel, Neverland II at St James Power Station and Pixie Mansion (formerly Neverland KL) in the Malaysian capital. The 35-year-old nightlife entrepreneur and avid racer was also the nephew of billionaire Kwek Leng Beng.
43-year-old Franco Toh, on the other hand, is a Singapore citizen who was born in Hong Kong and Neverland’s regional marketing director.
The 2 had come from the Sepang International Circuit and were driving towards the KL city centre. Hours before the accident, Kwek Kon Chun had been euphoric after winning the Dragtimes2u Supercar Drag Race at Sepang International Circuit. Mr Bae Husairi, one of the race organisers, said Mr Kwek was a regular face in the racing circuit across the border. “All of us really respected him; he loved cars and loved to race,” said Mr Bae, who is in his 30s.
As news spread about the crash, condolences started pouring in on Kwek Kon Chun’s Facebook page.
Meanwhile, the bodies have been taken to Kuala Lumpur Hospital for a post-mortem, while the wrecked car has been towed to a police station, DSP Markandan told The Straits Times. He confirmed that the families of the 2 men would be arriving yesterday evening to claim the bodies. Mr Kwek’s family declined to speak to the media, while Mr Toh’s family could not be contacted.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the families, friends, and loved ones of the deceased.
