Train passenger falls to death

JAKARTA (JP): A student from Tamalatea Health Science Academy in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, died on the way to hospital yesterday after falling from a train at Gambir Railway Station in Central Jakarta.

The victim was identified as 21-year-old Taqwa, a resident of Jl. Balang Baru in Ujungpandang. He arrived in Jakarta on Wednesday with 39 classmates for a comparative study in Java and Bali, Sudirman, one of the man's friends, said.

Taqwa and his friends were boarding a train heading for Depok, to visit the University of Indonesia's public health faculty, when the accident occurred.

"We waited for other passengers to get off the train but we didn't know that the train stopped for less than 60 seconds," he said, adding that they rushed on board and grabbed anything they could hold.

"But Taqwa couldn't hold on to the train because other passengers didn't want to give him any space," he said sadly, adding that Taqwa finally lost his balance and fell down.

Other passengers alerted the train driver by banging the sides of the train. As soon as the train stopped Taqwa's friends ran back to check on his condition.

"He was still alive when we were there. He said in Bahasa Bugis that his head really hurt," Sudirman said.

He was rushed to Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital but passed away en route.

"I only realized that he had died when we reached the entrance to the hospital," he said.

Taqwa's only visible wounds were bruises on his legs and back. However, the hospital's doctor said that he died from internal injuries.

Friends and lecturers gathered at the morgue and canceled their trip to Semarang in Central Java, Surabaya in East Java, and Denpasar in Bali.

"We'll take Taqwa straight back to Ujungpandang by plane and ask his parents to forgive us for the accident," Chaldrun, one of the lecturers, said, adding that the remaining students would go home by ship.