15 people killed in Central Java bus-train collision

15 people killed in Central Java bus-train collision

Blontank Poer, The Jakarta Post, Sragen, Central Java

Young newlyweds Suparjo and Saparoh had planned to stay for a
week-long vacation in the Central Java town of Sragen, but death
claimed their souls before their dream of a romantic and happy
honeymoon came true.

The new couple, along with 13 other people, mostly from Tegal,
died instantly when a train hit their bus at 2:20 a.m. local time
on Monday. The wedding party was on their way to a reception at a
village in the regency.

Suparjo's uncle, Sukartijo, expressed his grief over the
incident: "All our relatives and neighbors were ready to greet
the new couple. The nightmare has ruined the wedding celebration
and we have no more tears left to shed...

"The terrible tragedy has robbed the happiness of our family
and of the new couple. I don't know what to tell the relatives
and guests," he told The Jakarta Post.

Sukartijo said Suparjo, an air conditioner technician in
Jakarta, his wife Saparoh and her relatives were on their way to
Gandong village in the regency to attend another wedding
reception to pay their respects to Suparjo's family, after a big
Javanese wedding ceremony in Tegal on June 13.

"And the new couple had planned to stay for a week in the
regency for their honeymoon before going back to work in
Jakarta," he said, adding that Saparoh worked as a telephone
kiosk attendant in the capital.

The 13 other victims who were killed in the accident were:
Saparoh's mother Toni, 50; Muslikah, 35; Supardi, 50; Trimur, 45;
Jumarto, 30; Udin, 40; Susminah, 25; Marahmi, 47; Ali Hasan, 60;
Wahyudi, 18; Sunah, 39; Karyono, 50; and bus driver Ladin, 40.

Four others suffered severe injuries -- Alip, 55, Suparmo, 50,
Wismo, 50, Anggita, 3, and Torik, 2. They were still undergoing
intensive medical treatment at the Brayat Mulyo and Muwardi
General hospitals in the town.

The tragedy occurred when economic train Matarmaja hit
passenger bus PO Slamet Rahayu, license plate number G2877BF, as
it was crossing the railroad tracks. The bus was completely
destroyed and was dragged by the train for dozens of meters
before the train came to a stop.

No fatalities or injuries were reported among the passengers
of the train, which was on its way from Jakarta to Malang, East
Java.

The collision was believed to have been caused by human error,
since there was no railroad crossing attendant to signal the
oncoming train, as is standard practice in rural areas.

Railway company employee Sudarsono Wiyogo, who was supposed to
be on duty at the railroad crossing, but was allegedly absent
from his post at the time of the accident, has been arrested
pending further investigation into the tragedy.

The Indonesian Railway Watch (IRW) regretted the incident,
saying that trains had become a new killing machine, as train-
related accidents that have caused the loss of human life had
increased drastically.

"Since 2002, vehicle-train collisions have ranked first in the
number of fatalities, followed by train collisions and natural
disasters," IRW executive director Taufik Hidayat said on Monday
in Jakarta.

He said state-owned railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia
(PT KAI) should take moral responsibility for the incident and
that in future it should reevaluate and revise its safety program
for passengers of trains and other public transportation.

"With this tragedy, the PT KAI management has really failed,
because according to the police's preliminary investigation, the
incident was entirely their employee's fault. This shows the
company has developed no safety plan following its losses of Rp
100 billion (US$12.1 million) in the first quarter of this year,"
he said.

Taufik said that so far, the PT KAI management had not yet
displayed any commitment to solving the shortage of employees to
be deployed at railroad crossings.

"IRW data shows that of the 8,000 railroad crossings in Java
and Sumatra, only 20 percent have attendants. PT KAI has
explained this shortage with the classic reason that it has been
channeling funds for the recruitment of new employees. But
hundreds of its employees in West Sumatra are sitting idle and
have nothing to do," he said.