14 killed as buses collide in Cirebon<\/p>\n
Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon<\/p>\n
Two overloaded buses from the same operator fatally collided
\nhead-on in the West Java city of Cirebon on Sunday, killing at
\nleast 14 people, with 21 others injured.<\/p>\n
However, Cirebon Police immediately decided not to continue
\nthe investigation into the collision because the drivers of the
\ntwo Dewi Sri buses, both serving the Jakarta-Purwokerto route,
\nwere among the dead.<\/p>\n
\"The investigation into the case cannot be continued to trial
\nbecause the suspects are dead,\" Cirebon Police chief Sr. Comr.
\nSardjono said after visiting some of the victims at the city's
\nGunung Jati public hospital.<\/p>\n
The crash took place at 11:05 a.m. on Jl. Raya Kertasura in
\nKapetakan subdistrict, around 41 kilometers from Cirebon city,
\ncausing a severe traffic jam for more than three hours on the
\nhighway.<\/p>\n
Of the 14 dead victims, four people, including the two drivers
\n-- 40-year-old Taubatan Nasuha and Saefudin, 35 -- died instantly
\nat the scene, while the remaining 10 died on their way to the
\nhospitals.<\/p>\n
Cirebon Police Traffic Division chief Adj. Comr. Zaerusi told
\nThe Jakarta Post at the crash scene that Nasuha's bus, traveling
\nfrom Jakarta, was trying to overtake a motorcycle ahead, but lost
\ncontrol and collided head-on with Saefudin's bus, as the latter
\nwas catching up with another bus, a Dedy Jaya.<\/p>\n
Many of the passengers were asleep at the time, he added.<\/p>\n
\"At the scene of the accident, a long bend, the drivers of the
\ntwo respective buses were unable to control their vehicles, and a
\nsevere collision was unavoidable,\" Zaerusi said.<\/p>\n
As a result of the head-on collision, Saefudin's bus was
\nthrown sideways and it hit a house belonging to local resident
\nSukiti, 60.<\/p>\n
The 200-square-meter building was seriously damaged, but there
\nwere no reports of injuries to Sukiti's family.<\/p>\n
\"There were no victims from the house owner's family because
\nat the time of accident, all of them were working in the fields,\"
\nZaerusi said.<\/p>\n
The two buses were badly destroyed in the horrific crash, with
\nshattered glass left all over the street and the area in its
\nvicinity.<\/p>\n
Zaerusi said the police had not yet identified most of the
\ndead and injured, currently at the Gunung Jati public hospital
\nand private Pelabuhan hospital.<\/p>\n
Sardjono blamed the fatal crash on \"human error\".<\/p>\n
\"Evidence from the field investigation and eyewitness accounts
\nindicate that the accident was caused by human error on the part
\nof the drivers,\" he said<\/p>\n
Meanwhile one survivor, Soesilo Soebagjo, a 44-year-old
\npassenger from Jebres village in Surakarta, Central Java, said
\nthe bus carrying him and others to Jakarta was traveling at very
\nhigh speed at the time.<\/p>\n
\"When it passed the long bend at the accident scene, the bus
\ndriver (Saefudin) seemed determined to overtake a Dedy Jaya bus.
\nBut the driver lost control and hit a Dewi Sri bus traveling in
\nthe opposite direction,\" he told the Post.<\/p>\n
Sakuri, a 44-year-old survivor of the Dewi Sri bus traveling
\nto Purwokerto, confirmed that his bus was going extremely fast
\nwhile trying to overtake a motorcycle ahead. \"The bus then
\nskidded to the right and collided with another Dewi Sri coming
\nfrom the opposite direction,\" he added.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/14-killed-as-buses-collide-in-cirebon-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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