Buses hit train, killing one

JAKARTA (JP): A bus driver's assistance was killed and two bus drivers were injured on Saturday after their buses hit a freight train at a railway crossing in East Jakarta.

Kaswat, an attendant at a railway crossing on Jl. Pramuka, said that one of three privately-owned Himpurna buses was speeding from the direction of Pulo Gadung.

It hit the railway crossing beam just before colliding with the freight train.

"That bus was then hit by the bus behind it," Kaswat was quoted by a police officer, Eddy, as saying.

At Matraman police precinct, officer Eddy said the driver's assistance, Soleh, 30, was killed when the bus hit the train.

Soleh was a resident of the Juwara village in Rangkas Bitung, West Java.

The collision damaged the windshields of the two buses.

The two bus drivers, Syaiful and Mulyadi, who suffered severe head injuries, are being treated at the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital.

The police officer denied the suggestion that the bus driver was sleepy. The railway attendant had already lowered the railway crossing beam. The automatic light and siren had also been switched on. (jun)