Five killed, 42 injured in Cikampek toll road collision

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Five people were killed while 42 others were injured when a high- speed, intercity bus packed with passengers collided with a truck on the Jakarta to Cikampek toll road at 4:25 a.m. on Sunday, 25 kilometers after passing the Cikampek toll gate.

Supangat, an information officer of toll road operator PT Jasa Marga, said in a telephone interview that bodies of the fatalities and the injured victims were taken to the Karya Medika Hospital, Cikarang, Bekasi regency, and the Bayukarta Hospital, Karawang regency.

Three of the dead -- Kusyono, 41, Kari, 53, and Endi, 29 -- were residents of Brebes, Central Java. Two other fatalities had yet to be identified as of Sunday afternoon.

The accident took place when a Luragung bus, on the Cirebon to Jakarta route, tried to overtake a truck ahead. The speeding bus, however, hit the rear of the truck and the driver lost control of the vehicle, causing the bus to sideswipe the crash barrier. The bus then left the road and plunged onto adjacent land.

The truck left the scene but toll road officers managed to stop the driver before he left the road at West Karawang exit ramp.

Supangat expressed concern at the accident, saying that traffic accidents on toll roads were caused mostly by the recklessness of drivers.

This was the second accident in two days to have claimed lives on the toll road. A day earlier, a truck driver, Dadang, 31, was killed in a collision between his truck and a Safari bus on the road.