JAKARTA — At least 16 people were killed after a passenger bus crashed on Indonesia’s main island of Java just after midnight on Monday, officials said.
Budiono, head of the search and rescue agency, said the bus carrying 34 passengers lost control on a toll road, hit a concrete barrier, and rolled onto its side.
The inter-province bus was traveling from the capital, Jakarta, to the historic city of Yogyakarta when it overturned while entering a curved exit ramp at the Krapyak tollway in Semarang, Central Java.
“The forceful impact threw several passengers and left them trapped against the bus body,” Budiono said.
Police and rescue teams arrived about 40 minutes after the accident. Six passengers were declared dead at the scene, while another 10 died en route to hospitals or during treatment, he added.
Eighteen other victims are being treated at two nearby hospitals, including five in critical condition and 13 in serious condition, Budiono said.
Television footage showed the yellow bus on its side, surrounded by National Search and Rescue Agency personnel, police, and bystanders, as ambulances transported the injured and deceased.
Witnesses told authorities that the bus was traveling at high speed before the driver lost control, said Central Java Police Chief Ribut Hari Wibowo at Dr. Karyadi General Hospital in Semarang, where the bodies were being identified.
The driver, a substitute, sustained serious injuries but was able to communicate while receiving medical care.
“We are still investigating the cause of the crash and questioning the injured substitute driver,” Wibowo said, adding that authorities plan to test the driver for prohibited substances, including drugs.
Edgardo Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
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