The remains of five pilgrims arrive in Yogyakarta after fatal crash

Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

The remains of five pilgrims who died in a traffic accident in the East Java regency of Ponorogo arrived at the Panti Rapih Hospital in Yogyakarta on Monday morning.

The remains of the pilgrims, who were members of the Bintaran parish in Yogyakarta, were transported here from Ponorogo by three ambulance.

Several other ambulances carried six pilgrims who were badly injured in the accident, which took place in Pulung Ginting in Ponorogo, East Java, on Sunday afternoon.

After the corpses of the five victims were bathed, they were brought to Bintaran Church in Yogyakarta for a requiem.

After the service, which was attended by hundreds of church members and the victims' families, the remains of the five were transported for burial.

The five deceased were identified as Theresia Sumarsih Sukarman, M. Sri Sugiyanti, Y. Pulung Sujani, C.H. Heri Antini and M. Yuliana Suhadianti. All of them were Yogyakarta residents.

The six people badly injured in the accident were identified as Iman Santoso, Yospina Susilaningsih, Agnes Litarsari, Theodora Darsilah, Yustina Sri Suratini and Y. Sri Yantini. They are being treated at the Panti Rapih Hospital.

Fifteen other victims are being treated at three separate hospitals in Ponorogo, waiting to be transported back to Yogyakarta.

Suharto, 57, a relative of one of the victims, said his two sisters, Theodora Darsilah and Dian Cahyowati, were among the pilgrims who visited Maria Cave in Ponorogo.

He said the bus the pilgrims were riding in had brake problems from the beginning of the trip.

"The bus could not stop as it passed through a hilly area in Ponorogo, and it eventually crashed into a ravine in the Pulung Ginting area," Suharto said.

The bus rolled over twice before it hit the bottom of the ravine, leaving five pilgrims dead and the remaining 21 injured.

There were a total of 50 pilgrims on the trip divided onto two buses. They were returning home when the accident occurred.

Just two weeks ago, a bus carrying students from the Yapemda I school in Sleman, Yogyakarta, collided with a minivan and a truck in Situbondo regency, East Java, leaving 55 people dead, including 49 schoolgirls.