Reckless driving claims 12 lives

Reckless driving claims 12 lives

JAMBI: Reckless driving cost 12 lives and seriously injured 12
others in two separate traffic accidents in the Sumatra town of
Kerinci and the Central Sulawesi town of Poso on Thursday.

In Kerinci, some 500 kilometers west of Jambi, 10people were
killed when a pickup truck loaded with passengers crashed into a
school building after its brakes failed. Three other passengers
were seriously injured, while the remaining 12 suffered minor
wounds and were discharged from the hospital.

Jambi Police chief Col. Maman Lukman told Antara that the
driver, Eva Kananda, a woman, was driving at high speed when she
discovered the vehicle's brakes were not functioning. She fled
the accident scene before police arrived.

Also on Thursday, two people died and another nine were
injured when a public bus turned over on a section of the Trans-
Sulawesi highway in Sausu village, some 135 kilometers southeast
of the Central Sulawesi capital of Palu.

One of the casualties, Rusmiati, 14, was killed immediately,
while Hakim died two hours after being admitted to the nearby
community health center.

Two of the survivors, including a four-year-old boy, were
rushed to the Parigi hospital in Donggala with serious injuries.

The bus was on its way to Palu from Ujungpandang in South
Sulawesi. One of the passengers, Abdul Wahid, said the driver
lost control of the speeding bus on a sharp turn.