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)