Five killed in train crash near Indonesia’s Jakarta; rescue efforts ongoing

Survivors of deadly Indonesia train crash pulled from wreckage

⁠At least ⁠⁠five people have been killed and dozens injured in a collision involving two trains near the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, with reports of passengers being trapped in the wreckage, as rescue efforts continue.

The crash late on Monday night occurred at Bekasi city’s rail station, adjoining Jakarta, between a commuter line train and a long-distance train, the spokesperson for the commuter line operator, Karina Amanda, told the Reuters news agency.

Emergency workers were still actively working at the scene in the early hours of Tuesday morning, with one official telling the AFP news agency that at least four people remained trapped alive in the wreckage of the crash.

“Currently, there are five victims. And, of course, the evacuation process will continue, so the exact number of victims has not been determined yet,” Mohammad Syafii, the head of Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS), said early on Tuesday, according to Indonesian news outlet Kompas.com.

Syafii said efforts to rescue those still trapped in the wreckage were complicated by the limited space in which rescuers were working and the severe damage to the train carriages.

Emergency workers are working “slowly” to cut away wreckage and free those trapped inside the mangled carriages, Syafii said, according to Kompas.com.

Rescuers were seen using angle grinders to cut through the metal framework of train compartments to free passengers, according to reports at the scene of the accident.

Anne Purba, the spokeswoman for the state-owned railway operator KAI, also said that five people had been killed, and that 79 people were “still at hospitals for observation”, according to AFP.

Franoto Wibowo, a spokesman for KAI, said a taxi appears to have clipped the commuter train on a level crossing, causing it to come to a standstill on the tracks, where it was then hit by the long-distance train.

Kompas.com identified the trains involved as the Jakarta to Cikarang commuter train and the Argo Bromo Anggrek long-distance train, which is described as Indonesia’s premier high-speed train service between Jakarta and Surabaya.

Train accidents are not uncommon on Indonesia’s rail network.

In 2010, a train from Jakarta ploughed into the rear of a train that was sitting at a station in Central Java province, killing 36, and in 2015, a passenger train hit a minibus at an unguarded crossing in West Java, killing 18 people.