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No less than 9 members of a Malaysian paramilitary force lost their lives after their transport truck collided with a lorry on Tuesday, emergency services and media said.

Perak Emergency Services said in a statement that the incident occurred when the unit was en route to the northern Malaysian city of Ipoh after guarding a Hindu festival. "A police truck collided with a truck carrying gravel, trapping three victims in the front with 15 others in the back," the statement read, AFP reported.

Primary reports indicated that eight members of Malaysia's paramilitary force were killed along with the driver of their vehicle. Meanwhile, a ninth paramilitary member later succumbed to his injuries. "Two others remain in critical condition and a further seven are being treated for moderate injuries," Perak police chief Bakri Zainal Abidin told the New Straits Times newspaper.

He added that the 40-year-old lorry driver was arrested in connection with the incident.

As per the report by the Star newspaper, Malaysia has one of the highest road accident death tolls in Southeast Asia, marking a car accident occurring almost every two hours.

145 Injured In Explosion In Malaysia

In a separate incident, on Tuesday (April 1), an explosion in a gas pipeline in Malaysia's largest city injured 145 people, even as the fire kept burning for several hours. 

The major blaze erupted in a suburb outside Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday morning due to a leak in the gas pipeline. Videos surfaced only showing the towering inferno in Putra Heights visible from several miles.

The inferno led to 20-storey flames and caused a huge crater in an empty area near a residential neighborhood, Associated Press reported.

While 67 people were admitted to public hospitals, 37 others sought treatment at clinics and private hospitals. The residents said that they felt a strong tremor and homes shook.