Three Dead in West Java Train Accident

Tasikmalaya, W Java (Antara) - Three passengers were confirmed dead from a train derailment in Tasikmalaya, West Java that took place on Friday 19.00 local time, GMT +7. "There were three people dead," said Tasikmalaya Police Chief, Adjunct Police Commissioner Noffan Widyayoko told reporters on Friday, April 4. Noffan said that the three passengers' identities are still unknown, but two of them were male and another was female. Besides the three casualties, there are some passengers who suffered serious injuries caused by hard objects such as railway carriages. "There are many seriously injured passengers who are still stuck in between trains," said Noffan. Noffan said that the railway accident was caused by landslides that disconnected rail tracks and caused the locomotive and some carriages to derail and tumble. The first carriage behind the locomotive was thrown off the rail track, Noffan added. "Because of the landslide on the rail track the locomotive had been thrown into a ravine along with two other carriages while the incident on the first two carriages had been fatal," he said. Evacuation of passengers and carriages is still being carried out by a joint team of police and military personnel, local volunteers as well as personnel from the local Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), the State Railway Operator's (PT KAI), the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) and local government related agencies. As a result of the incident, the Southern railway traffic lanes of West Java cannot be passed forcing at least 13 trains to make a detour to the Northern lanes through Cirebon. (*)