Nine killed, 23 wounded in N. Sumatra collisions

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra

At least nine people were killed and 23 others seriously injured in two separate head-on collisions on the Trans-Sumatra Highway in North Sumatra on Thursday.

Seven were killed and 11 others were injured in a head-on collision between a passenger bus and a truck in Labuhan Batu.

Siti Aminah, 32, and her two daughters Nova Minanda Rangkuti and Siti Maisaroh Rangkuti, Kemina Simbolon, 35, and Mahyudin 56 and two others who have yet to be identified died instantly while the eleven who were also passengers of the bus are still in intensive care at the state-run general hospital in Rantauprapat.

The spokesman for the North Sumatra Provincial Police, Sr. Comr. Amrin Karim, said here on Thursday that the collision occurred early in the morning on Thursday when a bus, the PO Delima Indah, driven recklessly by Syachrul Siregar at a high speed collided with the truck in Aek Tampang village in the regency. The bus, carrying some 30 passengers, was on its way from Medan to Rantauprapat.

He said that according to witnesses, the collision was inevitable because one of the truck's headlights was not functioning.

"The incident claimed many lives because after the collision, the bus careened into a deep ravine," he said, citing that the bus driver survived the collision with minor injuries and was detained by the police while the truck driver fled the scene following the collision.

The accident caused a traffic jam on the normally busy highway but the traffic congestion was disentangled shortly after the arrival of the police.

Officials later used three tow trucks with winches to pull the bus out of the ravine.

Meanwhile, two people were killed and 12 others were injured seriously in another collision between a passenger bus and a cargo truck in Tanjungmorawa, some ten kilometers south of the city.

Eyewitnesses said the collision occurred when the bus, the Siantar Express, which was travelling at a high speed on its way from from Medan to Pematang Siantar hit a truck, also at high speed from the opposite direction.

The bus driver and the truck driver died on the spot while 12 passengers with major injuries were hospitalized in Tanjungmorawa General Hospital.