Truck driver killed in toll road inferno

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)