Thirty-six killed, 60 injured in Indonesian train collision

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Y2K discussion group : One Thread

JAKARTA, Indonesia -Rescuers were searching for survivors through the wreckage of a passenger train that slammed into a locomotive on Indonesia's Java Island Sunday killing at least 36 people, officials said.

More than 60 others were seriously injured in the collision, hospital officials said. The accident -the worst train crash in Indonesia in several years -happened in the town of Cirebon.

Police in Cirebon said more victims were believed to be trapped in the wreckage. However, efforts to find survivors were being hampered due to a lack of heavy-lifting equipment.

"We are searching for people we believe are still under the wreckage. There could be more bodies as well," said Zainal Abidin, a spokesman of the state-run railway company PT Kereta Api.

Hundreds of civilians helped in the search, using hacksaws to cut away metal sheeting trapping survivors and ropes to pull bodies from the wreckage, witnesses said.

Local television news showed pictures of mangled corpses slumped in seats. Some bloodied survivors were sitting next to the tracks screaming. One locomotive was lying on its side atop a passenger carriage.

He said the passenger train was traveling from Jakarta to the popular foreign tourist destination of Yogyakarta. There were no reports of foreigners involved in the accident.

The state Antara news agency quoted Minister of Transportation Agum Gumelar as saying "human error" was to blame for the accident.

Indonesia has had a string of fatal train crashes recently. Officials blamed signal failure for most of the accidents.

Last month, a passenger train plowed into a crowded bus killing at least 13 people on Java. That accident happened because the bus failed to stop at a railway crossing.

In 1987, 160 people were killed in a head-on collision between two passenger trains on the outskirts of Indonesia's capital, Jakarta.

With the nation in its worst economic crisis in a generation, budgets to maintain railway lines and other equipment have been severely slashed.

Trains are also often overcrowded with people riding on top of roofs and hanging out of doors.

Thousands of commuters around Java were left stranded because of the accident. The wreckage of the trains blocked one of the two main lines that crisscross the densely populated island.

The collision occurred around 4:00 a.m. Cirebon is about 125 miles east of Jakarta in West Java province.

Courier Press


Indonesia: Train Crash

GICC


Norway: Subway trains run on red

GICC


Norway: State Railways may claim damages for faulty trains

GICC


NORWAY - Train Derails After Driver Passes Red

GICC


Update: Report on British Train Crash

GICC


TX - Signal errors known days before collision

GICC

-- Anonymous, September 03, 2001

Moderation questions? read the FAQ