Six dancers die in crash

INDONESIA: Six members of a reog dance troupe were killed when the military truck carrying them had a head-on collision with another truck in Central Java province on Saturday.

The dance troupe was traveling from Surabaya to Semarang city in a truck belonging to the East Java-based Brawijaya Military Command when the accident took place. It was the second fatal accident on the same road within the last week.

Twenty-one other members of the troupe were injured in the accident, two of them seriously. The injured were taken to Demak General Hospital, while the bodies of the dead were transported to Surabaya.

Demak Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Her Aris Sumarman said the accident occurred when the speeding truck traveling from Semerang had a blowout and the driver, identified as Wakijo, lost control of the vehicle. The truck crossed the median and crashed into the truck carrying the dancers.

The fatalities were identified as Sumiran, 58, Asmoro Widya, 25, Teguh, 28, Budi, 27, Endang, 20, and Sunyoto, 25.

Last Saturday, a van collided with a truck along the same stretch of road, killing three of the van's passengers. -- Antara