Six people dead, 14 others injured as minivan hits bus
Puji Santoso, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru
A public transportation minivan crashed into a commercial bus in Kampar regency, Riau, on Tuesday morning, killing four people and severely injuring 16 others.
The deadly accident happened only a day after a similar accident in Indragiri Hulu, Riau, in which four people were killed and six others severely injured.
The accident on Tuesday occurred as the minivan was heading east to Pekanbaru from Bangkinang, the capital of Kampar. On Jl. Rimbopanjang, the minivan was attempting to overtake a car, when a Lintau Transport bus suddenly appeared from the opposite direction, according to the chief of the Kampar Police's traffic division, First. Insp. Haryana.
The two vehicles came together in a head-on collision, with the minivan taking most of the impact. Of those who died, two were children. The other two were Amas Siregar, 55 and Azria Safrizal, 22, the driver of the minivan.
The deadly accident caused a severe traffic jam on Jl. Rimbopanjang.
Meanwhile, the injured passengers were taken to the nearest hospital.
Following the accident, the driver of the Lintau Transport bus, Husnul Fitri, 22, a resident of Bangkinang, was questioned by the police.
Separately, a minor accident occurred earlier on Monday in Bengkalis, Riau. At least 14 out of 80 Mobile Brigade (Brimob) officers, who were traveling on a bus, were injured when the bus collided with a Volvo truck in Mandau, Bengkalis.
The accident occurred when the Brimob officers, who had just returned from the troubled province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, arrived in Dumai seaport aboard a Navy ship. They were met by three buses -- the Gumarang, Dorex and Caltex, which were to transport them home. In a street in Mandau, a Volvo truck approached the buses, but somehow the Dorex bus, which was between the two other buses, collided with the truck, said Adj. Sr. Comr. S. Pandiangan.
Fourteen Brimob officers were injured in the accident, while the truck driver fled from the scene.
The police are tracking down the driver, said Pandiangan.