Deadly crash as SBY convoy passes

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's trip to Jakarta from his house in Cikeas, Bogor, on Wednesday morning was an ill-fated one, as traffic direction to allow his convoy to pass may have caused a deadly accident, in which six people were killed and 10 others injured.

As the President was about to pass the Jagorawi toll road, several highway patrol officers got out off their sedan to stop vehicles passing the road several meters before Cibubur entrance gate, according to witnesses.

A queue of cars soon formed behind the sedan. Suddenly, a speeding bus coming from the direction of Bogor rammed into the queue, creating havoc. Five people were killed instantly at the scene, one died later in hospital, and at least 10 people were injured, some seriously.

"I saw a police car stop our rented minivan and other vehicles, and I thought: 'Some important people must be about to pass'," Ondo Sukmana said on Wednesday afternoon from his hospital bed.

"Later, some time after our minivan stopped, something hit it from behind. In my memory, everything seemed to happen very fast, I cannot remember the details clearly," he added.

Ten minutes after the fatal accident, the President's entourage passed, witnesses said.

The accident raised speculation that the police had stopped the speeding cars too abruptly, catching some drivers off guard. But the police, and even a presidential spokesman, dismissed the explanation.

Presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng held an impromptu press conference afterward to convey Susilo's condolences to the victims and their families, and to provide an explanation of the accident.

"The police did their duty according to the standard procedure, but the bus driver couldn't stop the bus, so it hit the cars in front," he said.

Andi added that the government would cover the medical costs of the injured victims.

The police also blamed the bus driver, Iwan Wargasasmita, 48, for the accident, detaining him.

Head of the East Jakarta Police's traffic division in Kebon Nanas, Sr. Comr. Djoko Susilo, claimed that the bus driver had lost control, ramming into at least two cars, which then hit other cars in the queue.

He said that the black bus, belonging to PO Garuda, was going at at least 80 kilometers per hour.

"The driver was probably so surprised to see that cars had stopped that he veered to the right, hitting the back of a pickup truck in Lane 2, and brushing a Mitsubishi minibus in Lane 3," Djoko said, adding that two people in the pickup truck were killed.

He said the pickup truck then hit the green Kijang van in front of it, which later hit the public minivan in which four people were killed.

He dismissed the allegation that the police had stopped the cars abruptly. "It's not true. My officer did his job according to the procedure, which is stopping passing vehicles three kilometers before the entourage passes, or at least 10 minutes before.

"We suspect that the driver of the bus lost control, and that the bus' tires were all bald, so he could not stop the bus,

"The suspect said he had seen the cars stopping from 500 meters away, but he could not stop the bus," Djoko said.

Meanwhile, driver Iwan told detik.com news portal that the cars had not all stopped vertically to the road, but that some had stopped perpendicular to it.

Iwan said he veered the bus into the right lane, which he thought was clear of cars, but had still hit a vehicle that had stopped there, also at a right angle to the road.

Djoko, nevertheless, promised that the police would investigate the accident thoroughly by questioning all available witnesses.