Indonesia train crash toll rises to 15 as rescuers complete evacuation

JAKARTA – The death toll from a train collision near Jakarta has risen to 15 with another 88 injured, a senior minister said on April 28, as rescuers completed work to extract survivors trapped in the wreckage.

The collision between a commuter train and a long-distance one happened late on April 27 in Bekasi, just outside Jakarta, with a carriage reserved for women bearing the brunt of the crash.

Mr Bobby Rasyidi, chief executive of Indonesia’s state railway firm PT KAI, said the death toll had risen to 14 and that evacuation work was ongoing.

Indonesia’s senior minister for infrastructure Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, told reporters the death toll had risen to 15.

Mr Mohammad Syafii, head of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency, said all the victims were women and most of them had been pinned inside by crushed metal. It was a delicate process to rescue survivors from the mangled carriages, he added, but the evacuation had been completed.

“We needed to involve personnel with certain skills to perform a measured extrication,” he said. There were no more passengers to find, though rescuers will take action if they find body parts as they continue to comb through the wreckage, he added.

Before disengaging the trains, rescuers were seen using grinders to cut through the metal of the compartments and reach the survivors.

Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi said the crash took place after a taxi stopped on a crossing near the Bekasi Timur station, state news agency Antara reported.

The commuter train was held on the platform where it was then hit by the long-distance train, the report said.

Taxi operator Green SM Indonesia said on Instagram that the taxi involved in the accident was part of its fleet. It had sent information to the authorities to assist in the investigation.

The company is the Indonesian branch of Vietnamese electric-vehicle taxi operator Green and Smart Mobility JSC, an affiliate of Vingroup.

President Prabowo orders investigation

After visiting a hospital in Bekasi, President Prabowo Subianto said he had agreed to build a flyover near the train tracks to help resolve heavy traffic congestion, adding that the authorities would investigate the collision.

He added that large parts of the train network were not well-maintained.

Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee is investigating the crash.

On April 28, rescuers and people descended upon the train station, some looking for their relatives. A man was seen crying while holding his brother’s bloody bag.

Ms Heriyati, a passenger, said she initially intended to use the women’s only carriage but opted for the one behind it. She had been on a call with her husband asking him to pick her up from the station when the collision occurred.

“I haven’t even finished with the call and the trains collided,” she added.

Working class symbol

Commuter line trains are some of the busiest in Jakarta, the world’s most populous city. On April 28, state railway company PT KAI said several commuter train trips were cut short due to the crash.

Executive director Adriansyah Yasin Sulaeman of the think tank Forum Transport for Jakarta said the government needed to improve the ageing railway network, including separating tracks for express long-distance trains and commuter trains.

“These commuter trains are a symbol for the working class,” he said. “It’s a big alarm for the government to seriously improve it.”

Land transport accidents are common in Indonesia. A train collision in West Java province in 2024 killed four people and injured dozens. REUTERS