19 killed in three road accidents

19 killed in three road accidents

The Jakarta Post, Blitar/Yogyakarta/Padang

At least 19 people were killed and many others injured in
separate accidents involving trains and vehicles on Java and
Sumatra islands on Sunday.

Police said 11 women traveling to an Islamic prayer meeting
and a three-year-old boy were killed when a passenger train hit
their pickup truck at a railway crossing in Kendal Rejo village,
Talun district, Blitar regency, East Java.

Ten of them were killed instantly and another victim died
after undergoing more than five hours of surgery in hospital.

A five-year-old girl is being still being treated in the same
hospital for serious injuries after the deadly accident, which
took place at around 9 a.m.

The Penataran train was traveling from Surabaya to Blitar when
it hit the overloaded truck, which was carrying 18 passengers, on
the unguarded crossing.

The pickup driver and four women passengers survived as they
were able to jump out of the Daihatsu truck before it was struck
by the train.

Blitar Police traffic chief First Insp. Muhammad Toro said the
accident occurred as the pickup truck's engine suddenly stalled
as it was crossing the tracks.

"The driver told us that he did not see the train coming
because his view was impeded by trees," Toro told The Jakarta
Post.

The truck was dragged some 600 meters along the tracks.

Blitar Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Suko Widodo, who visited
the scene, said the unnamed driver was being detained for
questioning.

Eyewitness Siswanto said he was shocked by the accident, and
especially by the fact that many of the victims had been thrown
quite far from the truck. "Local residents immediately came to
their aid, but most of them were already dead," he added.

The local police said they were concerned that there was no
barrier at the crossing. "We have advised the railway company to
provide barriers but so far there has been no response," police
Capt. Atmaji told AP.

A train plowed into two motorbikes at the same crossing in
January, killing two people, he added.

Muryanto, a local official for the state-owned rail company,
was quoted as saying there were barriers at the main crossing in
town, but that the driver had used a popular shortcut which had
no barriers and was intended for pedestrians.

In the Central Java town of Magelang, at least four people
died and 18 others were injured when two buses and four cars were
involved in a pileup at around 1 p.m. in Jumoyo village, Salam
district.

Three of the victims died at the scene, while a two-month-old
baby died in Muntilan hospital.

Juweri, 43, the driver of an Isuzu Panther van involved in the
accident, said the crash began when a passenger bus hit a
Mitsubishi Colt T van from the left-hand side.

"The Colt veered to the right and then hit by a cargo bus
traveling in the opposite direction," he said.

The cargo bus then propelled the Colt T van a few meters
forward, killing three of its passengers immediately. Both
vehicles were traveling at high speed when the accident occurred.

Three other cars -- an Isuzu Panther, a Mitsubishi L-300 and a
Daihatsu -- which all behind the Colt T van, were also hit by the
van.

The baby, who was a passenger aboard the L-300 van, died in
the hospital.

Separately, three passengers died and seven were badly injured
when a truck and a L-300 van collided and plunged into a 60-meter
deep ravine in the hilly Bung Hatta forest, Padang, West Sumatra.

Police said the accident took place at 11 a.m. as the brakes
of the truck, which was traveling from Solok city to Padang,
failed on a twisting road. It then ran out of control, and hit
the van which was traveling in the same direction.

Train accidents are common on the country's aging railway
network, while vehicular crashes are often blamed on recklessness
and overloading.

At least 10 people were killed in April when a train crashed
into a minibus on Java, and 74 died in similar accidents last
year.

Two months ago, a train hit a car at a railway crossing in
Jember regency, East Java. Seven passengers of the car, who were
all on their way to a wedding party, perished in the accident.