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.