Kuala Lumpur - A Malaysian soldier died and 31 other people suffered injuries early Tuesday as their bus overturned along a major highway.

Fifteen passengers on the interstate bus suffered severe injuries and were being treated at hospital in the central town of Seremban, some 150 kilometres from the capital Kuala Lumpur, state traffic police chief Halil Hamzah was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.

The deceased was believed to have died at the scene, he said.

Halil said checks revealed that the bus had been issued with 52 police summonses, mostly for speeding offences, between 2004 and February this year.

The bus was carrying 31 passengers, including two Indonesians and two Singaporeans, when the accident occurred.

Last year, there were several major accidents involving interstate holiday buses which were later found to be more than a decade old and unfit for travel.

In many of the cases, the driver as well as the busses were found to have been issued numerous summonses for traffic offences, fuelling calls for authorities to amend road laws to enable repeat offenders and guilty travel companies to be punished and taken off the roads. (dpa)