Up to 30 drowned as bus plunges into river

Up to 30 drowned as bus plunges into river

PURWOKERTO, Central Java (JP): A passenger bus plunged into
the Serayu River on Friday afternoon, killing 14 people while an
estimated 16 others are missing feared drowned after being washed
away by the strong current.

Ten others were injured in the accident at about 5 p.m. on the
Cilacap-Purwokerto highway in the village of Tambak Negara, Rawa
Lor district, some 20 km south of here.

The survivors, including the driver of the Tani Jaya bus,
Tarmin, were rushed to the Margono Sukarjo Hospital. Meanwhile, a
team of rescue workers with diving gear was dispatched to search
for more victims in the 50 meter-wide river.

Banyumas Police Chief Lt. Col. H. Hutauruk said it was not yet
clear what caused the crash. Tarmin, however, said he lost
control of the bus because he believed the vehicle's tie-rod (a
piece of steel connecting wheels of a vehicle and controlling its
steering) broke.

Some 200 personnel from local police offices and the elite
Mobile Brigade were deployed to free the bodies trapped inside
the bus.

The bus nosedived and is now sitting on the riverbed, eight
meters below the surface, but by 9 p.m. Friday evening no more
bodies had been found inside the bus which had a capacity of 40
passengers. Police suspect the other passengers were washed away
by the strong current.

The accident spot was some 300 meters north of the Gerak
Serayu dam which President B.J. Habibie recently opened.

The survivors were reportedly in shock. Most suffered broken
limbs and head injuries.

Of the 14 who died, three were women including 29-year-old
Rinawati, an employee of the tourism office in Purwokerto, and
her four-year-old daughter Mita. The other female victim was
Farida Syuaibah, a 24-year-old agriculture student who was soon
to graduate from the Jenderal Sudirman University in Purwokerto.
(45)