On the morning of October 8, Julaiha Munaji, 42, told two of her children to stay home. All schools in Johor had been closed for two days due to worsening haze, with API readings across all eight areas in the state registering between 162 and 188, firmly in the unhealthy range, and there was no reason for them to go anywhere. Her younger children, Nor Daniel Fikri Norlizan, 11, and Puteri Naufal Raisya, 8, did not want to listen and insisted on going anyway.
So their 18-year-old brother, Nor Daniel Aiman, took them on his motorcycle to show them that the school was shut. CCTV footage later confirmed they arrived at the school and turned back.
“I told them there was no need to go because school was closed today, but they insisted. So their older brother took them there to show them that the school was indeed closed. But on the way home, they were involved in the accident,” Julaiha told the New Straits Times. None of them came home.
What happened on Jalan Parit Haji Sirat
At around 7am, approximately 200 metres from their home in Kampung Parit Haji Sirat, Pontian, the motorcycle carrying the three siblings collided with a Daihatsu lorry coming from the opposite direction. Videos circulating on social media showed dense haze surrounding the crash site, with visibility severely reduced. The collision was severe enough to shatter the lorry’s windscreen, scattering debris across the road. The lorry driver, 69, sustained injuries to his hands and knees and received treatment.
Two of the siblings, Nor Daniel Fikri and Puteri Naufal Raisya, died at the scene. Aiman was taken to Pontian Hospital by ambulance but did not survive his injuries.
As reported by Sinar Harian, Julaiha learned about the accident when a resident came to the house to inform the family. Her husband and eldest child rushed to the scene, but by then all three had already been taken to hospital.
The morning before they left
Julaiha described the last moments she had with her children. Nor Daniel Fikri had told her he wanted to play football and had even washed the pair of new shoes she had just bought for him. The night before, all three siblings had slept close to the family, the way they often did.
She said Aiman had been quiet by nature but enjoyed joking with her. He had been helping to care for his younger siblings ever since she was involved in a road accident four months earlier, while returning from dropping them at school. That morning, he was doing what he had always done.
“He helped me a lot, including taking his younger siblings to school,” she said.
The air became too dangerous it prompted schools closure
The closure of all 1,198 schools in Johor affecting 617,258 students was announced on October 7, following a decree by the Regent of Johor Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, in response to API readings that had remained stagnant between 170 and 188 across the state.
The closure was later extended to October 16 as wind movements from Kalimantan threatened to bring further transboundary pollution. The 2026 haze season, exacerbated by a record-strength El Nino cycle, had already forced nearly 600 schools in Sarawak to close in August.
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‘I gave up my family to pursue my dreams’ Shares 34 YO M’sian woman
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