Two people die in toll road chain collision

Two people die in toll road chain collision

JAKARTA (JP): A woman and a child died yesterday in an eight
vehicle chain collision on a toll road above the junction of Jl.
Pramuka, East Jakarta. Eleven others were injured and taken to
the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital.

The two dead, Efrida Manalu, 18 months, and Rewin, were
passengers on a Pluit Jaya bus that was racing three other buses
from the same private company.

Police said the child was the dead woman's nephew. The boy
was thrown out of a bus window when the driver lost control. He
was then run over by another vehicle. The woman died from
smashing into a glass window.

The victims were from a group of transmigrants heading for
Tanjung Priok port to board a ship to Pekanbaru, Riau in Sumatra.

Secretary to the City Police spokesman Maj. Nyoman Suriasta
said the collision at 2:05 p.m. was caused by a Pluit Jaya bus
crashing into a sedan as it tried to over take another car.

The eight vehicles included three trucks. The driver of one
truck, BA 2646 DA, fled shortly after the accident. The other
drivers were identified as Atah of Kampung Melayu and Bachtiar
Hasibuan of Medan, North Sumatra.

The remaining four cars were a taxi driven by Aloysius
Pambudi, 46, of Cipinang Tengah, East Jakarta; a jeep driven by
Ace from Kebon Mangga, Cipulir, South Jakarta; a Toyota sedan
driven by Rudi Prabowo, 34, from Taman Sari, Lebak Bulus, South
Jakarta; and a minivan driven by Hendra Jaya from Bendungan
Hilir, Central Jakarta.

The dead woman's husband Marian Samosir said he and his family
were on their way to Gunung Gintung in Pekanbaru.

"There were four Pluit Jaya buses carrying transmigrants from
the transmigration center in Pondok Kelapa, East Jakarta," he
said. He and his family who hail from North Tapanuli, North
Sumatra, had lived in Jakarta for the past six years.

The buses, he said, had raced since entering the toll road.
"It was when our bus driver tried to over take another car to
catch the two other buses that it hit the sedan," Marian said.
(04)