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.