Trans Sulawesi Line Accident, Father and Two Children Died

MAKASSAR - A jungkit truck (dump truck) overturned and hit a Honda Brio car being ridden by a family on Jalan Trans Sulawesi, Tamarupa Village, Mandalle District, Pangkajene and Kepulauan Regency (Pangkep), South Sulawesi, Wednesday, February 4 night. As a result, the passengers of the car consisting of a father and two children were killed.

The Head of the Traffic Police Unit of the Pangkep Police, Ipda Habib Harahap, said that his party was still investigating to determine the exact cause of the accident.

He said the accident involved a jungkit truck with the police number DP 8904 AP and a Honda Brio minibus with the police number DC 1471 GT. Both vehicles were traveling in the same direction from Parepare City to Makassar City.

"It is suspected that the dump truck tried to avoid the minibus until it went up to the road median. The heavy vehicle then swayed, rolled over onto the road, and hit the minibus on its left side," he said, Thursday, February 5.

As a result of the incident, three minibus passengers were declared dead at the scene. The three victims, MA (35) as the driver and father of the victim, as well as his two children NA (7) and PS (5).

Meanwhile, the other two passengers, namely M (30), the victim's mother, and an infant survived, but were traumatized and secured at the homes of residents around the crime scene (TKP).

The police are also still investigating the contents of the dump truck and conducting an examination of the two vehicles involved in the accident. In addition, officers carried out crime scene investigation and traffic management around the location.

The accident caused a long traffic jam on the Trans Sulawesi line, with vehicle queues reaching about 1.5 kilometers from Makassar and Parepare. The police implemented a contraflow system to disperse the density until the vehicle evacuation process was completed.

"At the crime scene there were damaged vehicles on the side of the road so we had to do contraflow. For the congestion, it was about one and a half kilometers," he said.

Until now, the investigation process is still ongoing, while officers continue to try to normalize traffic flow at the scene.