Perai Fire and Rescue chief Azlan Hassan said they were alerted about the mishap at 2.35am.
“Rescuers found a car badly damaged but its driver only lightly injured. We have not been able to ascertain the status of occupants in the other vehicle,” he told reporters.
The missing driver of the SUV is believed to be Moey Yun Peng, a 20-year-old college student from Taman Kempas, Butterworth.
The victim's father lodged a missing person report this afternoon after he was told that his son's car was believed to have been involved in an accident along the bridge.
In a 20-second dashcam footage that was released today, it showed the driver of a Toyota Vios speeding to the left past a car in the middle lane. The Mazda CX-5 was in the fast lane when the Vios driver lost control of his car, swerved to the right and slammed into the CX-5, sending the bigger vehicle off the bridge.
Central Seberang Prai OCPD Asst Comm Nik Ros Azhan Nik Abdul Hamid said investigations revealed that Moey had just attended a birthday party on Penang island and could have been on his way home when the incident happened.
Once the SUV is located, Penang Bridge authorities would be called in to pull the car out of the sea, said ACP Nik Ros.
He said the other driver, aged 21, was sent to the hospital for treatment. He said they were investigating the incident for reckless and dangerous driving under Section 42(1) of the Road Transport Act 1987.
Rescuers failed to find the missing SUV driver today. The search will resume at 7am on Monday.
Marine Police Region 1 commander Asst Comm Rosman Ismail said search operations were called off at 7pm today, adding that it would resume at 7am tomorrow.
It is learnt that rescuers dropped anchors and dragged it along the seabed in an effort to detect the wreckage.
A fireman at the scene said the water depth was estimated to be about 20m.
(Bernama contributed to this report)
