Rescuers work on the site of an accident that claimed nearly a dozen lives including school children and dozens were injured, in Bekasi on August 31, 2022, after a truck (L behind) rammed into people, street vendors and a cellular antenna tower that toppled over. (Photo by REZAS / AFP)
At least ten people, including four young children, were killed and more than 20 injured on Wednesday when a truck ploughed into a bus stop outside a school in a city adjacent to Indonesia’s capital, police said.
The truck was transporting iron bars in Bekasi, West Java, at around 10:00 am (0300 GMT) when the driver lost control and the vehicle crashed into a bus shelter where a group of students were gathering.
“Ten people died in the accident, four of them were children and six others were adults,” Latif Usman, the head of Jakarta’s police traffic unit, told AFP.
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At least 23 others, including 14 primary school students, were injured and taken to two nearby hospitals for treatment, Usman said.
Images from the scene of the crash showed twisted metal and debris as rescuers helped the victims.
Police said they were still investigating the cause of the crash.
“So far we didn’t see any indication of brake failure but we are still investigating the accident,” said Usman.
The driver had been detained but had not been questioned because he was “still in shock”, he added.
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Fatal traffic accidents are common in the Southeast Asian nation of 270 million people, where road rules are routinely ignored and vehicles are often poorly maintained.
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In April, 16 people, including a child, were killed and more than a dozen others injured when a truck descending a remote mountain in Indonesia’s West Papua careened into a cliff and crashed.