A passenger bus collided head-on with a gas tanker truck on a freeway on Indonesia’s Sumatra island on Wednesday, killing a minimum of 16 individuals and injuring 4 others, officers mentioned.
The crash occurred round noon on the Trans-Sumatra Freeway in North Musi Rawas regency of South Sumatra province, when an intercity bus carrying a minimum of 20 individuals struck a tanker truck touring in the wrong way, mentioned Mugono, a neighborhood catastrophe administration company official.
Mugono, who makes use of a single title like many Indonesians, mentioned preliminary findings point out the bus — which was touring from South Sumatra’s Lubuklinggau metropolis to Jambi, one other metropolis — might have emitted sparks shortly earlier than the collision. This will have prompted the motive force to steer the automobile towards the precise facet of the street in an try and keep away from a extra critical incident. Nonetheless, an oil tanker truck was approaching at excessive velocity, leaving little time to keep away from a direct affect.
“The forceful affect triggered a fireplace that engulfed each autos, leaving many victims trapped inside,” Mugono mentioned.
The lifeless embody the bus driver and 13 passengers in addition to the tanker’s driver and assistant, all of whom burned to loss of life contained in the autos, Mugono mentioned.
4 bus passengers survived the crash and had been taken to a close-by well being clinic, together with three who suffered extreme burn accidents and one who sustained minor accidents, Mugono mentioned.
Because the passenger manifest remains to be being traced, Mugono mentioned authorities are nonetheless gathering information on the overall variety of fatalities.
Photographs and movies launched by the Nationwide Search and Rescue Company confirmed firefighters battling the blaze whereas thick plumes of black smoke and orange flames rose into the air. On the bottom had been the charred stays of the bus and tanker truck, with twisted metallic scattered throughout the freeway.
Rescuers, together with catastrophe officers and visitors police, evacuated victims and cleared the wreckage, although a number of had been pinned contained in the autos, complicating rescue efforts and disrupting visitors alongside the freeway, Margono mentioned.
Street accidents are frequent in Indonesia as a consequence of poor security requirements and infrastructure.
Final week, a long-distance prepare slammed right into a commuter prepare that had stopped close to a station simply exterior the capital of Jakarta, after hitting a taxi that had damaged down in the course of the tracks. The collision killed a minimum of 15 females of passenger sitting within the rear care, an space designated for ladies solely.
