JAKARTA: At least 16 people were killed when a passenger bus crashed on Indonesia’s main island of Java just after midnight on Monday, officials said.
The bus carrying 34 people, lost control on a toll road, struck a concrete barrier and overturned, according to Budiono, a chief of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency.
The inter-province bus was travelling from the capital Jakarta to the ancient royal city of Yogyakarta when it overturned while entering a curved exit ramp at the Krapyak toll way in Central Java’s Semarang city, Budiono said.
“The forceful impact threw several passengers from their seats and left them trapped against the bus body,” he said.
Police and rescue teams arrived at the accident site about 40 minutes after the crash and recovered the bodies of six passengers who died on the spot. Another 10 victims died on the way to a hospital or while being treated, Budiono added.
The 18 victims being treated at two nearby hospitals included five people in critical condition and 13 in serious condition, he said.
Television news reports showed the yellow bus overturned on its side, surrounded by personnel from the National Search and Rescue Agency, police officers and passersby, as ambulances transported victims and the dead from the scene.