Multi-vehicle Pile-up on Semarang-Batang Toll Road Causes 3 km Traffic Jam
A multi-vehicle pile-up involving six vehicles occurred on the Semarang-Batang toll road at KM 361+600, lane A, in Gondang village, Subah district, Batang District, Central Java, on Sunday evening (15 March). The incident caused significant traffic congestion amid surging vehicle volumes during the Lebaran homecoming period, with vehicle queues reaching approximately 2-3 kilometres in the eastbound lane.
Batang Traffic Police Commander AKP Eka Hendra stated that the accident occurred as traffic volumes increased on the toll road during the first peak of the Lebaran homecoming wave on 14-15 March 2026. “The vehicles were already queued at that time. Today was indeed the peak of the first homecoming wave from the 14th to the 15th,” Eka told journalists on Sunday evening (16 March).
Eka explained that the vehicle evacuation process encountered obstacles due to the significant number of vehicles involved in the pile-up. A total of six vehicles were involved in the chain collision, requiring multiple towing operations using heavy recovery vehicles. “Because the number of vehicles involved was quite substantial, the towing process had to be conducted several times,” Eka said.
Recovery vehicles had to make multiple trips into lane A to evacuate the damaged vehicles. The lengthy traffic congestion also trapped the tow trucks in the queue, prolonging the evacuation process. “The towing vehicles had to make multiple trips into lane A to retrieve the vehicles. Because they became stuck in the congestion, the evacuation process naturally took longer,” he explained.
After all vehicles were successfully evacuated from the scene, the damaged vehicles were towed out of the toll road to the Batang Integrated Industrial Area (KITB) for further handling. Eka confirmed that traffic conditions on the toll road gradually returned to normal after the congestion had eased. “By evening, traffic had returned to normal,” he stated.
He also confirmed there were no fatalities in the incident, though one person sustained minor injuries. The pile-up was reportedly caused by an SUV driver who became fatigued and drowsy after a long journey from Bali bound for Pemalang. Large waves of homecoming traffic into Central Java are expected to peak on 18-19 March 2026.