Accident may leave boy permanently disabled

JAKARTA (JP): A speeding train ran over a young child on Wednesday, severing both of his arms.

Two-year-old Rizki was crossing railway tracks with his mother and four-year-old sister near their home in Pademangan, North Jakarta, when he slipped and fell between the tracks just as a train passed.

The train passed over him, but his arms were across the track. His left arm was severed up to the shoulder and his right arm severed to the elbow.

Rizki was taken to Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital in Central Jakarta for treatment. He is in intensive care.

A medical staffer said his life would be saved by surgery intended to stop the bleeding.

The hospital has said that additional surgery could be performed to reattach his arms, but it must be done within 24 hours of the accident.

Surgery to reattach his arms would cost Rp 20 million ($2,300), while monthly hospital care would cost Rp 1 million, said one medical staffer, as quoted by Haeruman, a civilian defense worker of Pademangan village who admitted him to the hospital.

Rizki's father, Usan said he had no money to pay even the Rp 400,000 hospital bill already incurred.

"We don't even have enough money to cover our daily expenses," he told reporters at the hospital on Wednesday.

He earns Rp 10,000 per day as a roaming fruit sell. He and his wife have four children, two of which live with their grandparents in Sindang Laut village in Cirebon, West Java.

The family lives in a three by three meter plywood slum home in Pademangan subdistrict, Mangga Dua, North Jakarta.

"We rent it for Rp 25,000 per month," he said.

The family moved from Sunter in North Jakarta on Sunday to be closer to Usan's workplace in the Mangga Dua area.

The accident happened as Rizki's mother, Rokhimah, 35, and his sister were returning to their home after doing the family shopping at a small shop 100 meters from their home. Rokhimah was carrying Rizki before they reached the railway track, but he asked to be put down.

Rizki's mother, who was still in shock after the accident, was not available to comment on the accident.

According to data from the hospital, at least 41 people had been killed in train accidents in Jakarta during the first quarter of this year, or about 13 people a month.

Last year, an average of 10 people died per month in similar accidents. (01)