53 injured in West Java express train accident
PURWAKARTA, West Java (JP): Seven people were seriously hurt and 46 others suffered minor injuries when a Jakarta-Bandung express train collided head-on with a waiting train near the small Sadang railway station yesterday morning.
It is not yet known what caused the accident.
Eyewitnesses and local officials of state-owned Perumka railway company said the collision between the two Parahyangan trains took place at 9:37 a.m about 100 meters from the station which is 97 kms east of Jakarta.
The drivers of the two locomotives were unharmed as they were able to jump before the impact.
Both locomotives and three cars from the moving train were badly damaged in the crash. Rail traffic between Jakarta and Bandung was halted for about six hours. Sixteen trains usually travel in each direction daily.
The Bandung-bound train, which had left Jakarta's Gambir station at 6:30 a.m., was carrying 357 passengers while the waiting train going in the opposite direction had 250 passengers on board. It had left Bandung at 6 a.m.
Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto, who arrived at the scene by helicopter a few minutes later, told reporters that the driver of the train traveling from Jakarta apparently failed to obey a signal to reduce speed.
Based on a preliminary investigation into the accident, Haryanto said the Bandung-bound train was moving at 20 km/h when it hit the other Parahyangan train, waiting on a brief section of double track for the Bandung-bound train to pass.
The minister, however, said that the official cause of the accident was still being investigated jointly by Perumka officials and local detectives.
"In the meantime, we don't know yet whose fault this is," said Haryanto.
As of yesterday evening, the Karawang Police precinct was still questioning at least three people; Hadiyan, the driver of the Jakarta-Bandung train; Suritno the driver of the waiting train and Sadang station manager Hepjon Sihombing.
While the injured people were treated at the nearby Bayu Asih hospital in Purwakarta, the unharmed passengers were driven by air-conditioned buses hired by Perumka to their respective destinations.
The seriously wounded people included two passengers who were sitting in the locomotive of the Bandung-bound train.
The two suffered major injuries to their heads, chests and legs.
They were identified as Ida, 42, of Jl. Taman Manisan, Cawang in East Jakarta and Parikesit, 38, of Jl. Cipinang Pulo also in East Jakarta.
Haryanto called them illegal passengers because no passengers are meant to sit in locomotives.
But Parikesit denied he boarded the train illegally, saying he bought a ticket.
"I was asked by a train official to sit in the locomotive since the train was full," the employee of state-owned telecommunications company PT Telkom said.
Ida was unavailable for comment yesterday because she was still recovering from surgery. She is a relative of a Perumka employee.
A similar train collision occurred less than two kilometers from the scene of yesterday's crash on July 19, 1996. Then two trains collided at dawn 100 meters from Purwakarta railway station. Five railway workers riding in one of the locomotives were killed in that accident. (jun/bsr)