Train accident leaves two motherless

JAKARTA: Two junior high school children were left technically orphaned when their mother was hit by a train on Thursday; their father has been in a mental institution in Bogor for several years.

Lie Than Nio, 38, had just closed her food stall on Thursday morning and was on her way to a bank to make a payment on her insurance policy when the accident occurred.

Because the usual footpath was buried in mud, Lie decided to walk along a railroad running through Penjaringan, North Jakarta.

Residents in the area said that as she stepped onto the railroad, a Rangkasbitung-Kota train came from behind and hit her. She died instantly.

The residents who had witnessed the accident took her body to the morgue at Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital, Central Jakarta.

Aryadi, one of the witnesses, said that Lie's two children had not yet been informed of their loss.

"They still have their grandfather at home, but their father had a nervous breakdown several years ago and is in a mental hospital," he said. -- JP