14 killed as buses collide in Cirebon

14 killed as buses collide in Cirebon

Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon

Two overloaded buses from the same operator fatally collided
head-on in the West Java city of Cirebon on Sunday, killing at
least 14 people, with 21 others injured.

However, Cirebon Police immediately decided not to continue
the investigation into the collision because the drivers of the
two Dewi Sri buses, both serving the Jakarta-Purwokerto route,
were among the dead.

"The investigation into the case cannot be continued to trial
because the suspects are dead," Cirebon Police chief Sr. Comr.
Sardjono said after visiting some of the victims at the city's
Gunung Jati public hospital.

The crash took place at 11:05 a.m. on Jl. Raya Kertasura in
Kapetakan subdistrict, around 41 kilometers from Cirebon city,
causing a severe traffic jam for more than three hours on the
highway.

Of the 14 dead victims, four people, including the two drivers
-- 40-year-old Taubatan Nasuha and Saefudin, 35 -- died instantly
at the scene, while the remaining 10 died on their way to the
hospitals.

Cirebon Police Traffic Division chief Adj. Comr. Zaerusi told
The Jakarta Post at the crash scene that Nasuha's bus, traveling
from Jakarta, was trying to overtake a motorcycle ahead, but lost
control and collided head-on with Saefudin's bus, as the latter
was catching up with another bus, a Dedy Jaya.

Many of the passengers were asleep at the time, he added.

"At the scene of the accident, a long bend, the drivers of the
two respective buses were unable to control their vehicles, and a
severe collision was unavoidable," Zaerusi said.

As a result of the head-on collision, Saefudin's bus was
thrown sideways and it hit a house belonging to local resident
Sukiti, 60.

The 200-square-meter building was seriously damaged, but there
were no reports of injuries to Sukiti's family.

"There were no victims from the house owner's family because
at the time of accident, all of them were working in the fields,"
Zaerusi said.

The two buses were badly destroyed in the horrific crash, with
shattered glass left all over the street and the area in its
vicinity.

Zaerusi said the police had not yet identified most of the
dead and injured, currently at the Gunung Jati public hospital
and private Pelabuhan hospital.

Sardjono blamed the fatal crash on "human error".

"Evidence from the field investigation and eyewitness accounts
indicate that the accident was caused by human error on the part
of the drivers," he said

Meanwhile one survivor, Soesilo Soebagjo, a 44-year-old
passenger from Jebres village in Surakarta, Central Java, said
the bus carrying him and others to Jakarta was traveling at very
high speed at the time.

"When it passed the long bend at the accident scene, the bus
driver (Saefudin) seemed determined to overtake a Dedy Jaya bus.
But the driver lost control and hit a Dewi Sri bus traveling in
the opposite direction," he told the Post.

Sakuri, a 44-year-old survivor of the Dewi Sri bus traveling
to Purwokerto, confirmed that his bus was going extremely fast
while trying to overtake a motorcycle ahead. "The bus then
skidded to the right and collided with another Dewi Sri coming
from the opposite direction," he added.