Slippery Road And Sleepy Driver, DAMRI Bus In Kalimantan Entering The River, One Person Died

JAKARTA - A DAMRI bus with police number KH 7604 carrying 36 passengers from Lamandau Regency to Palangka Raya City, Central Kalimantan slipped into a small river area on Jalan Mahir Mahar, the inner ring of the local city, Wednesday, May 19 morning.

"The alleged cause of the accident is due to natural factors. It was raining, the road was narrow at the scene and finally the driver was sleepy. In that incident one female passenger with the initials NT (36) died," said Head of Traffic Police, Palangka Raya Police. AKP Rikky Operiady at the scene, reported by Antara.

Apart from one passenger who died, Rikky Operiady said, there were dozens of other victims who were injured.

He explained that the accident occurred at around 08.00 WIB, starting with the bus, which was originally from Lamandau Regency to Palangka Raya City, which launched smoothly.

Arriving at Jalan Mahir Mahar, the inner ring of Palangka Raya City, with rainy and slippery conditions, the bus suddenly braked because there was a mound of bridges in front of it.

It was suspected that the brakes suddenly acted, the bus driver, who was thought to be sleepy and startled, so that the bus slammed to the left and allegedly hit the road divider and into a small river which is right on the side of the road.

"This incident has been carried out by processing the crime scene (TKP) to find out what happened. The bus driver has also been secured and asked for further information about the incident," he also said.

Apart from securing the DAMRI bus driver, investigators for the Palangka Raya Traffic Police, they have not been able to conclude whether the driver will be named a suspect in the incident because it resulted in a passenger's death.

This case continues to be investigated and collects a number of witness statements, so that the case will be clear and the incident is completely known.

"For the number of passengers 36 people and in the manifest, only 33 people are recorded because three of them are small children, not counted in the manifest. The total number of people on the bus is 37 people plus the driver," he said again.

The ring section of Jalan Mahir Mahar in that morning was closed because police personnel from both the Central Kalimantan Regional Police and the ranks of the Police helped evacuate the DAMRI Bus which had fallen into the small river.

Police personnel managed to evacuate the bus body which fell into the river, assisted by an excavator belonging to the residents. The evacuation process took two and a half hours, the bus was finally lifted and immediately secured at the local police station.