Careless bus drivers kill five in South, East Jakarta

Careless bus drivers kill five in South, East Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): Careless bus drivers caused two accidents and
the deaths of a teacher and four students over the weekend,
police said.

Nur Intan, 27, a teacher at the private SMA Mandiri high
school in Depok, was returning home from shopping on Saturday at
the Blok M shopping center, South Jakarta, when she was hit by a
bus around 10 a.m.

Witnesses threw stones at the Metro Mini bus plying the
Ciledug-Blok M route, and the driver was detained by the police.

On Jl. DI Panjaitan, in East Jakarta, four high school
students died Friday morning when their bus hit a truck parked on
the side of the road.

Imron, Adi Hasan and Ricky, were smashed between the truck and
the Mayasari Bhakti bus number 44. They had been hanging in the
doorway of the crowded bus at the time of the accident around 7
a.m. The fourth student, Lukito, died Saturday in the private
Persahabatan hospital in Rawamangun where two were still being
treated as of yesterday.

The victims were among six students on their way to school,
the private Kemala Bhayangkari technical high school in Cipinang.

City police spokesman Lt.Col. Edward Aritonang confirmed that
the bus, plying the Cililitan-Pulogadung route, was speeding. It
hit a minivan, called a mikrolet, on Jl. DI Panjaitan and the
latter demanded that the Mayasari bus stop.

An argument followed between both drivers and the Mayasari
driver sped off again. Both buses then raced against each other
until the Mayasari hit one of several parked trucks in
Jatinegara.

The driver and his conductor immediately fled. Aritonang could
not yet confirm reports that the microlet driver was beaten by
onlookers before he was detained. (04/anr)