Brebes train crash kills 54<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Brebes<\/p>\n
The live of dozens of holiday travelers well shattered by
\ntragedy as apparent negligence spilt blood on the tracks in
\na head-on train collision near Brebes, Central Java, causing the
\ndeath of up to 54 people.<\/p>\n
Two overloaded economy-class trains - one heading east from
\nJakarta towards Yogyakarta and the other traveling west to the
\ncapital from Surabaya - collided at about 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday in
\nthe small Ketanggungan railway station, some 20 kilometers south
\nof Brebes.<\/p>\n
PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) immediately blamed the 13th
\ndeadly train accident this year on \"human error\".<\/p>\n
It was another agonizing testament to the poor management of
\none of the nation's primary modes of transportation.
\nParticularly, because it occurred during the annual peak for
\nrailway travel.<\/p>\n
Apart from some 54 dead, at least three dozen were injured,
\nmany of whom remain in critical condition.<\/p>\n
Like previous accidents, this one apparently could have been
\nprevented.<\/p>\n
The paramount mystery will be why the engineer of the Empu
\nJaya train traveling from Jakarta ignored signals and veered at
\nhigh speed into the track occupied by the Gaya Baru Malam train
\nwhich was still parked at the station.<\/p>\n
Was the engineer dozing and ignored the signals prohibiting
\nhim from using the track, which officials on Tuesday said were
\nclearly marked?<\/p>\n
Head of PT KAI in Cirebon, Abdul Majid, said the Empu Jaya
\ntrain should not have sped into the fateful track, claiming that
\na red signal located some 300 meters west of the crash scene was
\nalready switched on.<\/p>\n
Remarkably the engineer in question, 54-year-old Muhammad
\nTo'at, survived, albeit still under intensive care, and police
\nguard, at Tanjung general hospital in Brebes.<\/p>\n
But his colleague in the Gaya Baru Malam train, Sutrisno, was
\nkilled instantly.<\/p>\n
Minister of Transportation Agum Gumelar, at the crash site,
\nalso seemed to suspect that To'at had fallen asleep at the
\ncontrols.<\/p>\n
Other than that there was little else that Agum could say
\nother than to apologize and extend the government's condolences
\nto the bereaved families.<\/p>\n
Police are now left to question surviving passengers and
\nrailway officials, including Ketanggungan railway station chief
\nPuji Effendi.<\/p>\n
The tag of \"death carriage\" may not be an exaggeration to
\ndescribe the Empu Jaya train as this was its third deadly
\naccident in four months. The first two claimed 44 lives.<\/p>\n
All were a result of human error.<\/p>\n
The scene at Ketanggungan station on Tuesday was one of
\nmangled devastation and carnage as at least four carriages and
\nboth locomotives from the trains were derailed in the impact,
\nsome careening into a nearby rice field.<\/p>\n
The fact that the official death toll at this point has
\nreached 54 may be somewhat of a miracle since as many as 1,200
\npeople were squeezed into each of the trains.<\/p>\n
For several hours after the accident rescue workers were still
\nhard at work using steel cutting equipment to free those still
\ntrapped inside what must have seemed an iron coffin.<\/p>\n
Many of those who survived were thrown out on impact while
\nothers smashed windows in a panic to escape.<\/p>\n
The dead and injured were taken to at least five hospitals in
\nBrebes and neighboring towns of Tegal and Cirebon.<\/p>\n
Though rescue work was completed by late afternoon, there was
\nstill no definitive figure on the number of dead.<\/p>\n
Data from the scene recorded some 54 dead with 28 seriously
\ninjured and eight others with light wounds.<\/p>\n
Gatot Hamka a PT KAI spokesman in Brebes said the information
\nhad been gathered from hospitals treating the victims.<\/p>\n
Ominously he conceded that \"the number may continue to
\nrise...Many victims are in critical condition.\"<\/p>\n
But another official, Suhartono a spokesman of the railway
\ncompany in Cirebon, put the death toll at 30.<\/p>\n
He said 24 of the dead had been identified, while the
\nremaining six were still unknown.<\/p>\n
A check of four hospitals in the area -- the Tanjung general
\nhospital in Brebes, the Harapan Anda and Kardinah hospitals in
\nTegal and Gunung Jati hospital in Cirebon -- found that they had
\na total of 32 dead from the accident.<\/p>\n
To make matters worse, two other train accidents occurred on
\nTuesday in two East Java towns, killing three people.<\/p>\n
The Matarmaja train, serving the Jakarta-Malang route hit a
\nminivan in the Talun subdistrict of Blitar regency killing three
\npassengers in the minivan.<\/p>\n
The other accident occurred in Jember when the Rengganis train
\nserving the Malang-Banyuwangi route derailed. At least 45
\npassengers were injured.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/brebes-train-crash-kills-54-1447893297",
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