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)