457 killed in Central Java road accidents

PURWOKERTO, Central Java (JP): More than 450 people have been killed in road accidents in Central Java within the last eight months, provincial traffic police chief Sr. Comr. Edy Prawoto said here on Monday.

"The figures do not include accidents involving motorcycles and other fatal accidents not reported to the police," Edy said. "Human error was the reason behind most of the accidents, while only a few were caused by aging vehicles."

He said that 400 victims were involved in accidents occurring between January and July, while so far in August alone a total of 57 people have been killed on the roads.

Records indicate that during August there have been four large accidents. The first accident took place in Tegal when a train hit a bus killing 15 people, the second was in Wonosobo when 12 people were killed, in Demak where eight people were killed. The latest accident occurred on Sunday, which involved a Damri bus traveling between Jakarta and Yogyakarta, in which 22 people were killed and eight others injured.

Speaking of the Kebumen accident, an official of the Palang Biru Hospital in the town of Gombong, Agus Lukito, said that until Monday, of the seven victims, only one of them was male, had yet to be identified. "All the dead bodies are being kept at Muhammadiyah Hospital."

Soon after the incident all the victims were sent to Muhammadiyah Hospital and Palang Biru Hospital in Gombong as well as Sruweng Hospital in Kebumen.

The hospital, in cooperation with the local administration, will bury the dead in a local public cemetery unless they are claimed by Tuesday (today).

Chief of Kebumen Police precinct Adj. Sr. Com. Prasta Wahyu Hidayat said that the slippery conditions of the road due to rain was the main cause of the Damri bus accident.

The bus, belonging to the state-owned company, Damri, was driving at a speed of between 60 and 70 kilometers per hour, Prasta said.

Prasta confirmed that the bus driver, identified as Budi Santoso, was among the victims, but he had no idea whether the bus conductor was killed in the accident. (45/sur)