Three killed, 12 wounded in Cirebon bus collision

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.