Eight injured in chain collision

JAKARTA (JP): One person was seriously injured and seven others slightly injured in a chain collision involving four vehicles on the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road Saturday.

The vehicles involved in the pileup were a Mayasaribakti public bus and a bus carrying a group of reporters, a Daihatsu Taft van, and a Mazda MR sedan, Antara reported.

The seriously injured person was Mayasaribakti bus passenger Eni Sumadi, 54. Pieces of broken bus windshield were embedded in her face. She is being treated at the Mitra Keluarga hospital in Bekasi.

The other seven people injured in the accident were Qerry, 28, Nova Rasyid, 20 months, and Tri Urip Pranowo of SCTV, Firkah Fansuri of Republika, Mirza Fichri MZ of Info Bisnis magazine, Yuri of Antara, and Chris Kaban of Jayakarta morning daily.

The reporters were in a bus heading for Kota Legenda housing complex in Bekasi for a journalistic tour.

Eyewitnesses said the accident, which occurred in heavy rain, started when the Mazda MR sedan slowed abruptly and veered left. The driver of the bus carrying the reporters had to brake suddenly. The speeding Mayasaribakti apparently hit the reporters' bus from behind, and the reporters' bus hit the Mazda sedan, which then hit the Daihatsu van.

All the drivers involved in the accident and the conductor of the Mayasaribakti bus were questioned by local police. The driver of the Mayasaribakti escaped. No one was detained. (sur)