KAI blames bus driver for fatal accident

KAI blames bus driver for fatal accident

PURWOKERTO, Central Java (JP): Preliminary investigations
indicate that the railroad crossing attendant was not to blame
for a fatal crash involving the Empu Jaya train and a Sinar Jaya
bus which killed 13 people on Wednesday, a railroad official has
said.

Spokesman for the Purwokerto unit of the state railroad
company (PT KAI) Arifat told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that
the bus kept on going even though the automatic crossing bar was
coming down at the time.

"The accident did not occur because the attendant was asleep,"
he said, claiming he had witnesses who could testify to that
effect in court.

The bus, reportedly carrying 40 passengers, kept going
straight through the crossing on the heels of a truck which had
moved off seconds before.

"Witnesses said that the truck then stopped and reversed as
the bar had caught on it. This was when the bus went through,"
Arifat said, quoting witnesses.

Thirteen people, including the bus driver, Darsono, were
killed when the bus, which was en route from Jakarta to
Purwokerto, was hit by the Empu Jaya train on the Purwokerto -
Jakarta line at a railroad crossing close to the Kemisik river in
the village of Pakulaut, Tegal regency, some 165 kilometers west
of the Central Java capital Semarang, in the early hours of
Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, police were sticking by their allegation that the
fatal accident was the fault of crossing attendant Slamet
Sahroni.

The survivors are still being treated at Tegal General
Hospital.

"We are continuing our questioning of Slamet. If he is found
responsible, he will be prosecuted. PT KAI has its witnesses and
we have our own witnesses who say that Slamet was asleep when the
accident took place," Tegal Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Lutfi
Lubihanto said. (45/sur)