KUANTAN: Perhaps it was lucky that they were in an armoured vehicle. An army armoured vehicle ended up on its side after a collision with a lorry at Km3 Jalan Kuantan-Muadzam Shah yesterday.

All eight soldiers in the vehicle escaped unhurt.

The lorry also crashed into two other cars but the drivers of these vehicles too did not suffer any injuries.

The 10.50am incident caused a massive traffic congestion along the road for an hour.

The armoured vehicle was transporting soldiers from the 4th Mechanised Brigade camp in Jalan Gambang to Felda Chini for training.

The lorry had stopped at a roadblock manned by Road Transport Department officers when the armoured vehicle rammed into its rear, veered off and landed on its side.

The impact of the collision sent the lorry crashing into a Perodua Kancil and a Proton Waja.

Lorry driver Tam Kim Meng, 41, of Taman Sri Mahkota, said: "I heard a loud bang and my lorry was pushed forward towards the two vehicles which had stopped a few metres ahead of me."

Tam said he helped the soldiers and drivers of the cars to get out of their vehicles.