Five people die as two buses collide in Ngawi
Five people die as two buses collide in Ngawi
ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya
At least five people were killed and nine others injured when a
bus collided with a minibus in Ngawi regency, East Java province,
police and residents said on Thursday.
The accident took place at around 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday in
Kedungprau village, Pedas district, some 180 kilometers from
Surabaya.
The ill-fated bus, traveling from Surabaya to Surakarta in
Central Java, smashed into the minibus with police number L-6542-
A that was trying to overtake another car at high speed.
"At the time, the Eka passenger bus heading from Surakarta to
Surabaya suddenly appeared from the opposite direction. The
accident was then unavoidable," Ngawi police officer Adj. Insp.
Rudianto said.
He said the travel service minibus was thrown to the opposite
side of the road after it hit the front right part of the bus
with police number W-6022-PU.
Five passengers of the minibus died at the scene, Rudianto
said. The fatalities included Warsilo, Sutiyem and Sarlito -- all
residents from Surakarta -- as well as Kuri from Yogyakarta,
while another one has not been identified yet.
Local residents said they fled to the street shortly after
they heard a loud voice calling out from the scene around
midnight.
The villagers later discovered five bodies and evacuated them
from the minibus, while giving help to the wounded victims.
The nine injured were passengers of both ill-fated cars. "All
the dead and injured victims were taken to the Ngawi General
Hospital," Rudianto added.
Hospital worker Sumitho said the death toll from the car crash
were five and nine others injured, with some receiving intensive
treatment for serious wounds.
Some families and relatives of the dead and the wounded
victims arrived at the hospital on Thursday morning.
The Ngawi police were questioning the drivers of the two cars
about the accident.
Car crashes are common in Indonesia, which have often been
blamed on reckless drivers and passenger overloading.
On Sept. 5, at least 12 people (mostly women) were killed and
six others injured when their pickup car was hit by a passenger
train at a railway crossing in Kendal Rejo village, Blitar
regency, East Java. Two of the fatalities were children.
In another accident, seven people died when their truck
carrying cows plunged into a river under the Sidowayah bridge in
Ngawi on Sept. 16.
In the East Java regency of Jember, a bus slammed into a train
serving the Banyuwangi-Surabaya route earlier this year at a
railway crossing in Garahan village, Silo district, claiming
seven lives.