Express train kills three

JAKARTA (JP): A 35-year-old woman, her son and her niece were fatally hit by an express train at the railway tracks near Lenteng Agung railway station in South Jakarta on Friday evening.

According to the station's staff, housewife Rika Nurmala, her son Rian, 5, and her niece Peni, 12, walked across the railway tracks holding hands at 6:20 p.m., even though the Pakuan Ekspress, route number 319 heading from Jakarta Kota to Bogor, was already visible coming along the tracks.

The staff believed the resident of Jl. Mangga Besar IV A, West Jakarta, must have thought that the train would stop at the railway station, which was just few meters from her position.

"Therefore, the woman and the two children kept crossing the tracks to the other side of the station, waiting for a train to downtown Jakarta," one of the staff was quoted by Antara.

Since the Pakuan train was not scheduled to make a stop at the Lenteng Agung station, it sped through and crushed the three victims.

Rika's relatives were shocked after being informed about the fatal accident and seeing the dead bodies at the scene.

One of her relatives said that the three were attending a joint prayer at her relative's house for the death of his father- in-law, who died three days ago in Aceh.

"Her husband was still on a public bus heading to Aceh," one of her relatives said. (bsr)