Indonesians victims of U.S. road crash to be sent home

JAKARTA (JP): Officials at the Indonesian Embassy in Washington were preparing to send home the bodies of five Indonesians killed in a road crash in Ogalala, a small town in Nebraska, on Monday, Antara reported yesterday.

The five victims include four education experts who were studying at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. The fifth was the wife of another passenger, who survived the ordeal.

The embassy identified the victims as Moh. Topo Budoyo, 30, and Dwiyani Kusumastuti, 31, both from the Malang Teachers Training Institute (IKIP Malang), and Wahyu Winarni, 30, and Agus Sudarso, both from IKIP Mataram.

The fifth victim was identified as Titik Wiryatmo, 31.

Heru Widiatmo, Heruminus Purwanto and Yayuk Mardiati from IKIP Jember were badly injured in the crash. Tiksno Widyatmoko (IKIP Malang), Sofyan Salam (IKIP Ujung Pandang), Emanuela Catur Resmiati (IKIP Yogyakarta) and Yudo Sasongko (IKIP Malang) suffered minor injuries.

The group were in a van on their way back to Iowa after an outing in Denver, Colorado. The accident occurred on Highway 80 just outside Keith County in Nebraska.

According to the embassy, the car slid and hit the shoulder of the highway before slamming into a parked truck.

The bodies of the five victims were being kept in a funeral house in Keith County while those injured were staying in Ogalala hospital before being transported to Iowa City, said Antara.

The news agency said that an official from the Washington embassy and an official from the Indonesian consulate in Chicago were traveling to Ogalala to lend assistance.

The education experts were taking part in the Indonesian Primary Education Project being run by the University of Iowa and the Ministry of Education and Culture.

The project's director, Prof. Paul Retish, was the first to alert the Indonesian embassy of the accident.

IKIP Malang is devastated by the tragic loss of two of its teaching staff. One of the victims, Dwiyani, is also the daughter of Prof. Soenarjo, who lectures at the institute. (emb)