Three killed, 12 wounded in Cirebon bus collision

Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon

Three people were killed and 12 others injured in a collision between a bus and a minibus on West Java's north coast highway, which is notoriously prone to traffic accidents.

According to the police in Cirebon, the collision occurred when the Jakarta-Semarang bus, which was traveling at high speed, hit the minibus, which reportedly braked abruptly in Rawaurip, some 15 kilometers west of the city, at 5:40 p.m. local time on Monday.

Wiwien Nuraeni, a 17-year-old student at a senior high school in the city, and Anto, a resident of Babakan, died instantly, while Suhendang, 22, a resident of the Sumber Lor village, died on his way to hospital.

Four out of the 12 people injured in the accident were in a critical condition and were still receiving intensive medical treatment at the Sunan Gunung Jati General Hospital in the city.

Three of the four were named as Ratim, 50, Wage bin Tamrin, 25, and Nur Soleh, 37, while the fourth person has not yet been identified.

All of the dead and injured victims were passengers in the ill-fated minibus.

Adj. Sr. Comr. Zaerusi, chief of the Cirebon Police's traffic unit, said the minibus had been rear-ended by the bus.

"The minibus was propelled into a muddy field," he said.

A great number of collisions had been occurring in the city as bus drivers frequently drove their vehicles recklessly, he added.

In another development, bus operators in the city said they would increase fares by between 20 percent and 30 percent for the Idul Fitri holiday despite warnings from the government about excessive fare hikes.

The chairman of the local branch of the Land Transportation Organization, Iskandar Agus Banadji, said that many bus operators had threatened to take their buses off the roads during the Idul Fitri holiday if they were not allowed to raise fares by at least 20 percent

"Bus operators will suffer losses if they are not allowed to raise fares because the north coast highway is quite prone to congestion and the levying of illegal charges is still rampant," he said.

The government has banned economy-class buses from hiking their fares in a bid to help low-income people get home to celebrate Idul Fitri. It has also set maximum permissible increases for non economy-class buses.

Military trucks will also be deployed to help bring vacationers home.

Meanwhile, state-owned railway company PT KAI said it would increase the number of trains running in anticipation of increased passenger numbers over the holiday.

Millions of people in Jakarta are expected to leave the city to celebrate Idul Fitri in their home towns in West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta and East Java.