Baby among 14 killed in Lampung bus crash

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung

Police personnel in East Lampung regency were hunting down a driver of a passenger bus, who was held responsible for a deadly accident on Monday night in Hargomulyo village, a top police officer said on Tuesday.

Adj. Sr. Comr. Anjar Dewanto, the chief of East Lampung police precinct, claimed that his investigators had already identified the driver, who was estimated to have fled east in the direction of Merak port.

"We hope we can arrest them soon," he said.

The deadly accident occurred after the Buana Jaya passenger bus slammed into a packed minibus, killing 14, including a day- old baby, and seriously injuring four others.

Hargomulyo village, where the accident happened, is located some 170 kilometers southeast of the Lampung provincial capital of Bandarlampung.

The 14 fatalities were on the minibus with six other passengers, who were all family members and relatives of Samirin, 40.

The tragic accident, which was dubbed the worst in the past 10 years in the regency, began when the Samirin family departed from Sukadana Baru subdistrict to pick up Samirin's wife, who gave birth in the house of a midwife in the Sekampung village, also in East Lampung regency.

They picked up the mother and the baby, and were heading straight home. When the minibus was heading back to Sukadana Baru subdistrict, suddenly from the opposite direction, a passenger bus was seen trying to overtake a Fuso truck, and coming into the same lane as the minibus.

The minibus driver could not avert the head-on collision as they were too close when the bus began to pass the truck.

The four that were injured in the accident, all passengers on the minibus, were being treated at Abdul Moeloek Hospital in Bandarlampung.

Five other victims -- passengers on the bus -- only suffered from minor injuries and were being treated in a hospital in East Lampung regency.

The most recent major road accident occurred in earlier this month in Central Java province when an intercity bus hit a minibus, killing eight people.