The remains of five pilgrims arrive in Yogyakarta after fatal crash
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.