PETARUKAN, Indonesia (AP) – At least 36 people died, dozens were wounded when a train crashed into another parked at a railway station in central Indonesia at 3 a.m. Rescue teams searched through the wreckage for hours, helping trapped survivors, many of them were sleeping during the accident.
The Transportation Ministry Bambang Ervan informed that a train from the capital, Jakarta, collided with the rear of a train that was sitting at a station in Petarukan. The force of the impact knocked several carriages off the track and debris from the train filled the area with open suitcases and personal objects.
Civilians helped to rescue teams, and cranes were used to remove heavy remains, meanwhile investigators are trying to determine if the error was of human nature. “It may also have been mechanical,” Ervan added. “We’re checking to see if the signals of the parked train were working properly.”
By early afternoon Saturday, one body is still trapped inside and upended car, while 35 bodies were sent to three nearby hospitals, said Tri Yuniasari, spokesman for the Hasyim Ashari hospital.
More than 40 people were injured, including children with broken bones. Indonesia has a reputation for poor safety standards and maintenance, and had a series of plane, train and ferry accidents in recent years that have killed hundreds. Only an hour later of the incident Petarukan a train crashed in the town of Solo, also in Central Java, killing at least one person.
