One die, three others hurt in bus collision

At least one person was killed and three others injured seriously in a head-on bus collision near Pemalang, Central Java, on Thursday.

Following the collision, the both vehicles caught fire, but the blaze was put out after a water tanker was deployed by the local administration in the town.

Witnesses said that the tragic accident occurred when a Continental bus, apparently running at high speed was trying to pass a car in the same direction, but collided head-on with a Dewi Sri bus coming in the opposite direction in Sirangkang village, Patarukan.

The fire that ensued on the Continental bus, which was carrying 31 passengers from Pekanbaru, Riau to Sragen, Central Java, then, spread to the other bus.

All the passengers managed to escape injury from the blaze but the Continental driver Sunyoto, who was either trapped or unconscious in his seat could not escape and burned to death.

Sunyoto's body and the three wounded victims were evacuated to a hospital in Pemalang.

One passenger said he believed it was the dead driver's fault, and that the collision would not have occurred had he not tried to pass on the winding road.

Chief of the Pemalang police Adj. Sr. Comr. Nurwitomo blamed the two bus drivers, saying that the collision occurred because both drivers were trying to pass.

"If the drivers were driving calmly and cautiously the collision would not have happened. We are looking for the Dewi Sri crew who escaped after the accident," he said. -- JP