At least 27 killed after bus plunges into ravine in Java
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The bus carrying 66 passengers was travelling on a winding, poorly lit road when it plunged down the 20m-deep ravine in West Java's Sumedang district. Photographs of the scene show the bus had landed on its side.
PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
JAKARTA • A bus carrying dozens of pilgrims plunged down a steep ravine on Indonesia's Java island, killing at least 27 people including junior high school students, the authorities said yesterday.
Rescuers worked through the night using cranes to pluck injured survivors from the wreckage after the fatal crash late on Wednesday in West Java's Sumedang district.
The bus carrying 66 passengers was travelling on a winding, poorly lit road when it plunged down the 20m-deep ravine, the authorities said.
The driver and teenage passengers were among the dead, while 39 people survived the accident.
"The fatalities are a mix of children and adults," Bandung rescue agency official Mamang Fatmono told Agence France-Presse.
Photographs of the scene show the bus had landed on its side, with rescue workers trying to search for survivors.
The authorities said they were probing the cause of the accident.
The Transport Ministry said there were initial indications that the vehicle's road-worthiness tests were not up to date.
The bus was returning to the town of Subang from a religious pilgrimage site in West Java.
Traffic accidents are common in the South-east Asian archipelago, where vehicles are often old and poorly maintained, and road rules are regularly flouted.
In late 2019, at least 35 people were killed when a bus plunged into a ravine on the island of Sumatra.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
