Truck driver killed in toll road inferno

JAKARTA (JP): A driver was killed and his assistant seriously injured when a fuel truck burst into flames on the Tangerang- Jakarta toll road yesterday.

A Tangerang Police precinct sergeant said that according to witnesses, Alex bin Otang was speeding when the truck he was driving overturned and plunged into a ditch on the side of the road.

The truck's 8,000 liters of gasoline ignited and the fire spread quickly. Thick smoke hampered drivers on the busy toll road.

"The accident took place at about 8:30 a.m. We think the driver was drowsy," the police officer said.

The 28-year-old driver from Sukabumi, West Java, was killed.

Witnesses said the incident caused heavy traffic jams. "Thousands of cars were forced into an 11-kilometer-long queue," a witnesses said.

The police officer said that Didin, one of the driver's assistants, was rushed to Qadr Hospital, in Karawaci, Tangerang with serious burns. Alex's body was sent to Tangerang General Hospital's morgue for an autopsy.

He said that the second assistant, Hasan, had managed to get out of the PT Piranti Bakti Jaya truck before it burst into flames.

PT Piranti executives and Alex's relatives went to the morgue yesterday to identify the body, Budi, a hospital official, said.

"They then went to the police precinct to get a permit to pick up Alex's body," Budi said.

On April 10, eight passengers were killed and eight others seriously injured when a speeding 12-seater van from Jakarta burst into flames on the Cikampek toll road, West Java.

All passengers, including three children, were on their way to a relative's wedding in Babakan, in Kuningan, Cirebon. (jun)