Wheel of death: 5 motorcycle festivalgoers killed on Malaysian roads

Malaysian police on Tuesday said five participants of a motorcycle convention died while riding to or from the event, throwing a fresh spotlight on the country’s troubling road safety record, where one life is lost every two hours.

The five victims were reportedly riding in separate convoys that attended the annual RXZ Members 7.0 Gathering held in the northeastern state of Terengganu over the weekend. As many as 150,000 enthusiasts of the popular Yamaha RXZ motorcycle attended this year’s event, organisers said.

Four of the deaths happened on Friday as riders converged on the motorsport complex in the Gong Badak district, according to Mohd Yusri Hassan Basri, director of traffic enforcement and investigations at police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

To prevent further accidents, authorities intensified roadside checks and cracked down on “dangerous actions” by riders that could put themselves or others at risk, Mohd Yusri told reporters on Tuesday.

The latest fatal accident involved a 20-year-old youth who was riding in a convoy with 10 others on Sunday on their way back to Johor state in the peninsula’s south.