Army chief blames driver for crash

Army chief blames driver for crash

Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post, Semarang

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu has blamed the driver
of a public transportation pickup that collided recently with a
military armored vehicle, killing 18 people in Temanggung
regency, Central Java.

The pickup was carrying 22 people, far beyond its capacity of
only nine people, he argued.

"The driver (of the pickup) is to blame for the accident. How
could he brake his vehicle and stop on time when it was so
overloaded?" Ryamizard said on the sidelines of the inauguration
of the new Diponegoro military commander, Maj. Gen. Sunarso, in
Semarang on Wednesday.

The covered pickup's driver was among the 18 people killed in
the fatal crash. Sixteen of the dead victims were passengers of
the car, while the two others were soldiers. Seven others were
injured.

The collision took place in Ngipik village, Pring Surat
subdistrict, when the French-made MX 13 self-propelled cannon was
on its way to its base in Kebumen district. It had just been
repaired in neighboring Yogyakarta.

According to the Army, the engine and the brakes were fine
when the collision took place, and the tank was traveling behind
another tank at a speed of some 20 kilometers per hour as
procedures required.

Local military officers have said the armored vehicle that was
in front had already flashed its headlights at the pickup to warn
it that there was another vehicle behind.

Ryamizard stressed that it was not the military vehicle that
rammed into the public transportation vehicle.

"The top speed of the armored vehicle was only 20 kilometers
per hour. It was hit by the pickup, which was speeding down an
incline," he said.

The four-star Army chief denied that the tank was zigzagging
at the time of the accident. "The most advanced Scorpion tank
cannot even zigzag. So how do you expect an armored vehicle made
in 1960 to do so?" he queried.

He said the pickup plunged into a ravine after the crash
because the driver lost consciousness and could not brake.

It was not clear if Ryamizard was revealing the results of the
investigation into the crash by a joint police and military team.

The team have questioned a number of witnesses over what
really happened.