Cabbie miraculously survives being crushed

Cabbie miraculously survives being crushed

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Suparmin, 31, a taxi driver, could not conceal his elation when
describing an amazing incident that almost took his life, after a
huge container fell onto his taxi on Tuesday morning.

"I thought I was a goner ... It was a really miraculous
escape: Thanks be to God -- Allahu Akbar (God is great)," said
Suparmin, a taxi driver with Pusaka Lintas taxi, his face still
etched in panic, with trembling gestures and reddened eyes.

Suparmin told The Jakarta Post that he was driving the taxi
from Jl. Tambak toward Tebet, South Jakarta, when he saw a
container truck with engine trouble in the middle of the road
only 30 meters in front of Pasaraya Manggarai, South Jakarta.

"I thought everything was going to be alright, as I saw
several police officers at the scene directing traffic. However,
all of a sudden, the truck moved backward and the steel container
dropped off, falling right onto my car," said Suparmin.

Miraculously, the container, which also fell onto two other
cars, two motorcycles, and a bajaj (three-wheeled motorized
taxi), squashed his taxi slowly, so that Suparmin was able to
break the windshield.

He managed to slip away from the wreck with the help of
passersby just before the container almost completely flattened
his taxi to the ground.

No casualties were sustained in the incident as all the
victims managed to escape from their vehicles in time, but Achmad
Sunarya, 35, the bajaj driver, had to be taken to Cipto
Mangunkusumo general hospital for treatment due to a possible
internal fracture to his waist.

Other victims, Bambang Sugiarto, 46, driving a Kijang van;
Arifin, 22, on a Honda Astrea motorcycle; Supriadi, 35, on a
Vespa motorcycle and Panther van driver Ilham, 22, and his
passengers, Yasul Yasir, 70, and Adinda, 20, suffered no injuries
at all.

Chief Brig. Ujang Anwar of the Manggarai Police post nearby
said the incident had occurred because the container was
overloaded.

"(The container's) maximum load was only 20 tons, but it
weighed about 28 tons," said Ujang.

That's why, he added, the container truck's engine broke down
before the container fell onto passing vehicles.

"We have arrested the truck driver, Paryono, 27, and his mate,
Tasmin, 25, both residents of Indramayu, West Java, for
negligence," said Ujang.

The incident forced police to close the road and reroute
traffic for hours as five tow trucks belonging to the City
Transportation Agency were deployed to tow away the container and
the wrecked vehicles.