Sumatra train crash kills 9, injures 23

Sumatra train crash kills 9, injures 23

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

In another train tragedy this year, at least nine people were
killed and 23 others injured when a train slammed into a bus on a
railroad crossing in Asahan regency, North Sumatra, early on
Sunday.

Police said a preliminary probe showed that the crash occurred
because the warning arms did not deploy as the Sri Bilah train
passed an intersection in Kisaran Timur district, some 260
kilometers southeast of Medan, the capital of North Sumatra.

Witnesses told the police that the railroad attendant at the
intersection was not around during the accident that took place
at around 3 a.m.

"We are searching for the attendant who disappeared after the
accident. There is the possibility of making this man a suspect,"
Asahan Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Mahfud Arifin said.

He said none of the fatalities, who were taken to the Kisaran
general hospital along with the wounded victims, had been
identified due the absence of their identity cards.

The nine bodies were all passengers of the ill-fated PO Pinem
bus, he added.

"Most of the victims perished after being thrown out of the
bus when the train rammed into the back," Mahfud said.

The business class passenger train left Medan at around 10:45
p.m. on Saturday to Rantau Prapat in Labuhan Batu regency.

Medan's train station deputy head Joharno said that despite
the nine deaths with 23 passengers injured -- most very seriously
-- the crash only caused minor damage to the train and that it
would return to Medan on Sunday evening.

Nor did the accident seriously disrupt the departure and
arrival schedules of other trains in or around Medan, he added.

Setiani Sinulingga, director of PO Pinem, which owns the bus,
said the nine dead included one of the drivers, identified only
as Budi, from Medan.

"All the fatalities were passengers in the rear of the bus. At
the time, Budi was asleep along with them after he being relieved
by his counterpart," Setiani said.

However, the number of the passengers aboard the 45-seat bus
remained unclear.

Setiani said the bus was heading to Medan from Ujung Batu in
Pekanbaru, Riau province.

"We are still waiting for a report from the bus terminal in
Pekanbaru. But they could have picked up many passengers, who got
on the bus at other stops, on its way to Medan. That's the
difficulty for us in identifying the number of passengers," he
added.

According to Setiani, relatives of the dead and wounded would
receive compensation from state-owned insurance firm PT Jasa
Raharja.

Rail accidents often occur in the country, with many blaming
them largely on the mismanagement of state-owned train company PT
Kereta Api Indonesia. The maintenance of the aging railway
equipment and infrastructure, most of which was built by the
Dutch colonial administration over 60 years ago, was also to
blame.

On June 30, a passenger train slammed into another train in
Rawa Bambu station in South Jakarta, killing at least two people
and injuring dozens of others.

A week later, at least 25 passengers were hurt when their
economy-class train collided with another train in Banjarsari
subdistrict in South Sumatra.

In another recent accident, an Argo Bromo executive class
train smashed into a pickup truck on June 2 in Cirebon, West
Java, wounding three people in the car.

On May 20, a train accident in Bandarlampung, Lampung
province, killed six people, with KAI officials blaming it on
human error.