Four rail workers died and at least 22 people were hurt when two trains carrying hundreds of passengers collided in West Java, Indonesia, on a Friday morning, officials said. The crash happened at 6:03 a.m. local time near Cicalengka, according to railway operator PT KAI.
An intra-city train with 287 passengers met a local-line train carrying 191. The front carriages of both were mangled, and cars further back had derailed and overturned on a stretch of track running through rice fields. None of the nearly 500 passengers were reported killed. All four dead were train crew: a driver, an assistant, a steward and a security guard.
“KAI is deeply saddened and expresses its condolences for the death of four train officers,” a company spokesman said.
Conflicting injury counts
The injury figures did not agree. Police counted 37 injured, while PT KAI said 22. Police spokesperson Ibrahim Tompo said all passengers had been evacuated and the hurt taken to local hospitals.
A joint rescue team was still working to reach one crew member believed dead. “One victim who is believed to have died still cannot be evacuated because the victim was buried in the material of the carriage,” Tompo said.
Cause unknown
Nobody has said what caused the collision. The Transportation Ministry sent teams to help with evacuation and to open an investigation. Ministry spokesperson Adita Irawati apologized for the accident, saying it had disrupted rail service, especially in West Java.
Transport accidents are not rare in Indonesia, an archipelago where buses, trains and even planes are often old and badly maintained. Last November, a train hit a minibus at a level crossing in Lumajang, East Java, killing at least 11 people. In 2015, a commuter train struck a minibus at a crossing in Jakarta and 16 people died. Two years earlier, a commuter train collided with a fuel tanker in the capital and burst into flames, killing seven and injuring scores more.
