Baby among 14 killed in Lampung bus crash
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.