Bad driving sees Idul Fitri death toll reach 50

SEMARANG (JP): The Idul Fitri death toll from road accidents has jumped again after nine people were killed in crashes in Central Java and West Java Monday.

The fatalities come on top of 41 similar deaths in road accidents Sunday and Monday.

The authorities, who released the news yesterday, blamed driver negligence for the deaths.

In Demak, 25 kilometers northeast of here, a motorcyclist and a local resident were killed in a road accident.

Demak police precinct chief Col. Muharso, said that the accident occurred when a state-owned DAMRI bus overtook a car without noticing an oncoming motorbike.

The bus, on its way from Demak to Kudus, skidded into the left lane after smashing into the 23-year-old motorcyclist only to fatally hit a 50-year-old man , who was cleaning garbage from his front yard.

The reeling bus rolled on into a nearby irrigation channel injuring 20 passengers, most of them residents of Demak. They were admitted to the local city-owned hospital, but there were no details of the injuries.

"This was an accident caused purely by a careless driver who drove his bus too fast but could not control it," Muharso said.

The police detained bus driver, Suratno, for questioning. In Indonesia, the crime carries a maximum penalty of fives years in prison.

In another accident, Nursalim and his elder sister, Sofiatun, were killed when they raced another motorcycle at Ungaran, 15 kilometers south of Semarang.

The spirited 16-year-old powered his Yamaha RX into top gear in an unofficial race against another rider but an overtaking maneuver cost Nursalim and his 27-year-old sister their lives as they were hit by an oncoming bus.

In Cilacap, a family on its way home to Surabaya, East Java, was involved in a road accident. Margono, 34, lost his 10-month- old baby Maria Ulfah and his sister Maemunah when his van and a truck collided on a section of Java's southern route at Tritih Lor village.

Margono, his wife Sulistyawati, their children Angga and Lies, Margono's other sister Halimah and her son Anas suffered slight injuries.

A crash involving two buses in Wonogiri completed the accident-ridden day in Central Java. The collision left Ragil, 32, dead and another 24 passengers injured. Elsewhere in Serang, West Java, a van rolled over on the Serang toll road after its rear left tire blew Monday afternoon, killing an eight-month-old baby and a woman and injuring the remaining seven passengers.

A patrol officer, Second Lt. Slamet Widodo, identified the woman as Yunarwati, 21, but not the baby. The injured passengers were Roli Romadina, 1, Nardi, 24, Maharson, 20, Eva, 22, Rizal, 29, Herman and van driver Rasmaidi Syair.

Slamet told Antara that the driver lost his control of the van before it swerved into the wrong lane and overturned. However, witnesses speculated that the driver's sleepiness had caused the accident, saying that the car wobbled prior to the accident.

The seven casualties are being treated at Serang hospital and Krakatau Steel hospital in Cilegon.

Banten police are investigating the case. (har/amd)