Zoo trip ends up at morgue for 4 family members

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Six-year-old Dicky Putra Sukma had been anxiously awaiting his first trip to Ragunan Zoo in South Jakarta, and the day finally arrived on Wednesday, but Dicky never made it, instead he lies in a hospital bed, while his mother, two cousins and an auntie are all dead.

"My youngest son had never been to the zoo ... so his older brother, Dody, arranged a family picnic and rented a public minivan to take the 12 of us in our extended family to Ragunan," said Bogor resident Ondo Sukmana, 48, from his hospital bed.

Right next to him, Dicky was sleeping fitfully.

The family outing turned into a calamity of epic proportions as their minivan was rammed by a bus, which killed four of the family members, including Dicky's mom, Asma Hasnah.

"I'm looking for my wife. I don't know where she is. I have been asking about her but nobody will give me an answer. Someone said she is in Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital," Ondo said while lying in the emergency room of the Indonesian Christian University (UKI) hospital in East Jakarta.

Hasnah's body had already been taken to the morgue at Cipto hospital from the Jagorawi toll road near Cibubur, East Jakarta where the accident took place.

The father and son share their hospital room with Dicky's cousin Ifan, also six, who was sleeping with intravenous drips attached to his arm.

Ifan's father, Nurdin, 40, was taken to another room to be treated for a serious head injury.

Nurdin did not know that his wife, Siti Rokhmah, 30, had died in the accident.

In addition to Siti and Hasnah, two other cousins, Diki Ahmad Fauzi, 6, and Santi, 8, also died.

Diki's parents, Ade Saefudin and Yuningsih, who were not involved in the crash, waited in deep silence while a relative dealt with the paperwork at the morgue.

After staring blankly at the morgue's white ceiling for what must have seemed an eternity, Ade begrudgingly explained to reporters that their son was visiting his grandmother's house in Bogor and that their relatives, Siti and Hasnah, invited him to come along for the picnic at the zoo.

Two other fatalities in the accident, identified as Hidayat and Djaelani, were in a pickup truck carrying fruit from Bogor to stores in Jembatan Lima, West Jakarta.

"Hidayat just bought the pickup truck six months ago," Hidayat's brother-in-law, Santoso, told reporters at the morgue.

"Before he bought it, he used to rent vans to transport the fruit to his customers," he said, adding that Djaelani was Hidayat's assistant.

I-Box

List of victims

Fatalities No. Name, Age Vehicle

1. Asma Hasnah, 40 Public minivan 2. Siti Rokhmah, 30 Public minivan 3. Santi, 8 Public minivan 4. Diki A. Fauzi, 6 Public minivan 5. Hidayat, 42 Pickup truck 6. Djaelani, 40 Pickup truck

Victims hospitalized in UKI No. Name, Age Injuries Vehicle

1. Ondo Sukmana, 48 fractured skull Public minivan 2. Dicky P. Sukma, 6 fractured skull Public minivan 3. Dody, 23 broken leg Public minivan 4. Agus, 20 leg injury Public minivan 5. Nurdin, 40 fractured skull Public minivan 6. Kholilah, 30 fractured skull, Public minivan

unconscious 7. Sinta, 8 fractured skull Public minivan 8. Ilyas, 27 fractured leg Public minivan 9. Ifan, 6 fractured skull Public minivan 10. Dendy, 25 several wounds Green Kijang minivan

on the body