Death Toll Climbs to 31 in Pagaralam's Sriwijaya Bus Accident

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Search and rescue workers will continue to conduct their search and evacuation operations on Wednesday morning, as death toll in the Sriwijaya Bus accident rose, from 24 to 31, Tuesday, at 8 p.m. local time.

"The death toll possibly goes up since the evacuation process will be continued on Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. local time," Head of the Palembang Search and Rescue Agency's Operational and Preparedness Division Benteng Telau stated.

The ill-fated passenger bus plying on the Bengkulu-Palembang route plunged into an 80-meter-deep ravine and crashed in the Lematang River, Pagaralam City, South Sumatra, on Monday evening.

Consequently, no less than 28 people lost their lives, while 13 others survived the accident. The survivors were largely residents of the provinces of Bengkulu and South Sumatra, Telau remarked.

Among the dead passengers were children named Rayhan Ghani (3), Ayu Intan (9), and Fadhil (10), as well as the bus driver, Fery, and his assistant, Yuda Sanjaya. So far, 25 of the 28 bodies could have been identified, he stated.

As reported earlier, the Sriwijaya Bus that crashed into the ravine carried onboard 37 passengers. However, the actual passenger count was yet to be precisely known in the absence of an official manifest.

According to Telau, those surviving this accident generally suffered injuries. The survivors included Basarudin, Hepriadi, Hasanah, Sukiyem, Aisyah Awaliah Putri, Ariri, Lukman, Aldi, Riduan, Darusalam, Riki, Haris Krisyanto, and Khadijah.

The real causes of this fatal accident have yet to be publicly disclosed since the local police's investigation is still underway.

In the past fortnight, Indonesia has born witness to several fatal traffic accidents.

On Saturday evening (Dec 21), for instance, the Agro Parahyangan passenger train hit a van that was making its way at a railway crossing on Bosih Road in Wanasari Village, Cibitung Sub-district, Bekasi District, West Java Province, killing seven passengers in the car.

"All of them died at the site of the accident," Bekasi Metropolitan Police spokesman Adjunct Commissioner Sunardi stated.

According to eye witnesses, the ill-fated van's driver, Bahrudin, crossed the railway line despite being warned by local residents of the shortly arriving Agro Parahyangan train heading to Jakarta, he remarked.

The traffic accident resulted in the deaths of the 51-year-old driver and six other people in the van: Watinah (50), Santi (30), Didit (12), Yanto, Syarufudin (49), and Yanda (32).

They were residents of the Utan Kayu Selatan Village, Matraman Sub-district, East Jakarta.

REUTERS