In Indonesia, bus plunges into a ravine, killing 27 Islamic pilgrims
- The bus fell into the 20-metre-deep ravine after the driver lost control of the vehicle in an area with a number of sharp declines
- The bus was carrying a group of Islamic junior high school students and their parents from the West Java province town of Subang
The bus was carrying a group of Islamic junior high school students and their parents from the West Java province town of Subang to a pilgrimage site in the province’s Tasikmalaya district when the accident happened late on Wednesday on a winding road, said local police chief Eko Prasetyo Robbyanto.
He said the bus was on its way back to Subang from a pilgrimage site in the province’s Tasikmalaya district when it plunged into the 20-metre-deep ravine after the driver lost control of the vehicle in an area with a number of sharp declines in Sumedang district.
Police were still investigating the cause of the accident, but survivors told authorities that the vehicle’s brakes apparently malfunctioned, Robbyanto said.
27 people killed after vehicle plunges into ravine in South Sumatra
Bandung search and rescue agency chief Deden Ridwansah said the 27 bodies and 39 injured people were taken to a hospital and a nearby health clinic, including a body of a young boy who was pinned under the overturned bus and pulled from the wreckage on Thursday morning.
Thirteen of the passengers were treated for serious injuries, Ridwansah said. The driver was among those killed.
Television video showed police and rescuers from the National Search and Rescue Agency evacuating injured victims and carrying the dead to ambulances. Grieving relatives waited for information about their loved ones at Sumedang’s general hospital, others tried to identify the bodies laid at a morgue.
A survivor, Mimin Mintarsih, said the bus wobbled before it crashed.
“Passengers smelled something burning and the driver said the brake failed,” she told the Detik news portal.
“I was trapped on my seat, but managed to crawl out of the bus. Thank God my two children were safe,” she said.
Road accidents are common in Indonesia because of poor safety standards and infrastructure.
In December 2019, 35 people were killed when a passenger bus fell into a 80-metre-deep ravine and crashed into a fast-flowing river on Sumatra island. In early 2018, 27 people killed after a packed tourist bus plunged from a hill in West Java’s hilly area.
Additional reporting by DPA
