TRAIN COLLISION ON JAVA KILLS AT LEAST FOUR PEOPLE
Two trains collided on Indonesia’s main island of Java on Friday, causing carriages to buckle and overturn and killing at least four people, officials said.
The accident happened about 500 metres from Cicalengka train station in West Java province, said Ayep Hanapi, a spokesperson for PT Kereta Api Indonesia, the national railway.
He said the Turangga express train carrying 287 passengers was travelling from Surabaya, the capital of East Java province, when it plowed into a Bandung Raya commuter train with 191 passengers heading to Padalarang from Haurpugur station at about 6:03 a.m.
“All passengers of the two crashed trains have been evacuated safely,” Hanapi said, adding that 37 people were injured and treated at several hospitals.
By Friday afternoon, only two passengers were still hospitalized, he said.
Passenger Heri Aliyudin said the lights were knocked out in his cabin in the third carriage of the Turangga train. He recalled suitcases and bags fell onto several passengers. Those who were still asleep were thrown from their seats.
“I was so shocked, I couldn’t move for a moment. It was total confusion,” Aliyudin told Kompas TV in an interview.
West Java police spokesperson Ibrahim Tompo said at least four train crew members were killed — the driver and his assistant on the commuter train and a steward and a security guard on the express train.
Transportation Ministry spokesperson Adita Irawati apologized for the accident and for the disruption of railway services across Java island. She said the cause of the accident was being investigated.