Korean, local killed in car crash in East Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): A Korean and an Indonesian were killed when their car collided with a truck in Cawang, East Jakarta, early Saturday, hospital sources said.

Another three Koreans, identified only as Soon, Rhe and Lee, were critically injured and were treated at the Indonesian Christian University (UKI) hospital at Cawang.

The dead were identified as Lee Euw Sam, 36 and the car driver, Saiman Basri, 43. Lee died on the scene and Saiman in the hospital.

According to Duyeh Supandi, the personnel manager of PT Klapa Nunggal at Cileungsi in Bogor, West Java, where all the victims worked, the five were on their way to the metal factory from Hotel Indonesia in Central Jakarta when the accident happened.

"They had to reach the factory early in the morning and start work before other employees did," he said.

Duyeh said that all the Koreans arrived in Indonesia several days ago.

The bodies of Lee and Saiman were sent to Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital for postmortems.

Saiman's wife, Sukarti, said that she received a call from the factory at about 9 a.m. on Saturday, telling her that her husband was in critical condition at UKI hospital.

Sukarti went there but missed her husband's body, which had already been moved to Cipto Mangunkusumo. She could not hold back tears when visiting Saiman's body accompanied by her relatives.

"We will bury him at Ratu Jaya in Depok," she said.

Saiman is survived by five children, aged between seven and 19.

Sukarti, a resident of Sukma Jaya district in Depok, West Java, said that her husband had worked for the factory for four years.

"I hope that the factory will help us support the family. I have no idea how to pay the children's school fees," she said. (ivy)