Java [Indonesia]: At least 16 people lost their lives after a passenger bus met with a fatal accident on a highway in Indonesia’s Central Java province early on Monday, according to local media reports.
The bus, which was en route from Jakarta to Yogyakarta, crashed at a highway interchange in the Krapyak area near Semarang. Preliminary information from search and rescue officials suggests that the vehicle was travelling at high speed when it approached a curve, lost control, rammed into a roadside barrier and overturned.
Rescue teams evacuated 34 people from the wreckage. Fifteen passengers were declared dead at the scene, while another victim succumbed to injuries during treatment at a hospital. Several injured passengers were shifted to medical facilities in Semarang for further care.
Footage released by emergency responders showed the severely damaged bus lying on its side as rescue personnel carried bodies away from the site, the Jakarta Post reported.
The incident has once again highlighted concerns over road safety in Indonesia, which has witnessed several deadly bus accidents in recent years. In September this year, eight people were killed after a bus carrying hospital staff and their families crashed near Mount Bromo in East Java. In 2024, a bus-car collision during Idul Fitri travel claimed 12 lives, while in 2019, at least 35 passengers died when a bus plunged into a ravine in West Sumatra.
Authorities have launched a detailed investigation to ascertain the exact cause of the crash.