KAI to sue truck driver for Rp 10b compensation
KAI to sue truck driver for Rp 10b compensation
The Jakarta Post
Kebumen/Jakarta
State-owned railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) said on
Thursday that it would sue the driver of a box truck blamed for
Monday's train derailment which killed six people and wounded 30
others near the Central Java town of Kebumen.
The company said it was considering demanding the driver,
Ahmad Saefuddin, the truck's owner and the truck company pay Rp
10 billion in compensation for the damage caused by the crash.
Djusman Manurung, head of KAI's Region Operation V overseeing
the Central Java regency of Purwokerto, said the figure included
damage sustained to the tracks and carriages, and the refunding
of tickets for train services canceled after the crash, he said.
"So, the compensation we are going to seek from the suspect is
expected to reach that amount," Djusman said.
PT KAI president director Omar Berto confirmed its plan to sue
Saefuddin who is currently being detained at Kebumen Police
Headquarters.
"The driver's discipline offense that caused the accident
cannot be ignored. Let alone causing the deaths of others," Omar
said.
The police said Saefuddin, 32, would be charged with criminal
recklessness causing the deaths of others. It carries a maximum
penalty of five years in prison.
Omar said the truck's owner and Saefuddin's company should
also face charges. He did not elaborate.
Djusman said Saefuddin said he had borrowed the truck, license
number B-9089-ZJ, from his younger brother-in-law, Yanto, to take
Saefuddin's family members on a trip during the Idul Fitri
holiday.
Kedu Police chief Sr. Comr. Bambang Tjahjono said Saefuddin
was not under the influence of any alcoholic drink when he was
driving the truck and hit the underpass.
"He was not drunk. He had been reminded by an ojek (motorcycle
taxi) driver that the truck was not able to pass through the
underpass, but Saefuddin ignored it and instead drove the truck
on at high speed to ultimately hit the underpass, dragging the
tracks away," Bambang said.
He said the police were also detaining the wife of Saefuddin
for security reasons. "We want to safeguard her safety from
possible attack."
The Dwipangga express train, packed with around 450 people
returning to Jakarta after celebrating Idul Fitri in their
hometowns, derailed at Tersobo village in Prembun subdistrict,
Kebumen. It was traveling from the Central Java city of Solo to
the capital.
PT KAI said reports the train had derailed after hitting the
truck stuck on the roof of the underpass beneath the tracks, were
untrue.
KAI spokesman Zainal Abidin, in a statement, said the train
derailed after hitting tracks bent 37 centimeters out of shape by
the impact of the track.
Eight of the train's 11 carriages and its locomotive plowed
into rice fields where they still remain, drawing hundreds of
curious onlookers.