One killed in bus collision on Jakarta-Tangerang toll road
One killed in bus collision on Jakarta-Tangerang toll road
Multa Fidrus
The Jakarta Post
Tangerang
One passenger was killed and dozens of others slightly injured
when a Steady Safe bus, plying the Cimone, Tangerang, to Kampung
Melayu, East Jakarta, route, collided with a Mayasari Bakti bus
traveling between Cimone and Kota in West Jakarta. The accident
occurred at kilometer 15.6 of the Jakarta-Tangerang toll road on
Friday at around 10:50 a.m.
Both buses plunged into the ditch running alongside the
expressway. The collision occurred only a few weeks after six
passengers were killed when a bus collided with a truck on the
Jakarta-Tangerang toll road.
This was the fifth accident on the Jakarta-Tangerang toll road
this year.
The dead passenger was identified as Saefudin, 25, a resident
of Ulung Manik village, Kaungantun district, Cilacap regency,
Central Java.
Saefudin suffered severe head and chest injuries. His remains
were taken to the Tangerang General Hospital.
The other passengers refused to be taken to the hospital and
continued on their journey to Jakarta after receiving first aid
treatment from officers from the Jasa Marga toll road company and
Tangerang traffic police.
Brig. Hardi, a traffic police officer, said that based on the
accounts of passengers, the Mayasari Bakti bus was speeding down
the nearside carriageway heading for Jakarta.
"The Steady Safe bus started to overtake the Mayasari Bakti
bus. Unfortunately, the rear of the Steady Safe bus sideswiped
the front of the Mayasari Bakti bus," he said.
"The driver of the Mayasari Bakti bus lost control and the bus
went off the road and plunged into a ditch. Apparently, the
driver of the other bus also lost control and his bus went into
the ditch a few meters in front of the Mayasari Bakti bus," he
added.
Both bus drivers are being questioned by police at Tangerang
Police headquarters.
Friday's accident caused four-kilometer tailbacks in both
directions as irresponsible drivers stopped to gawk at the crash
scene.
The last accident on the expressway, prior to the latest one,
took place on July 15 when an ARH bus traveling between Cimone
and Senen hit a container truck on the toll road, 100 meters from
the Karang Tengah toll gate.
Six people were killed, including the bus conductor. The
driver himself, who survived the incident, fled the scene and is
still being hunted by police.