Bus–fuel tanker crash in Indonesia kills 16, injures 4

A collision between a passenger bus and a fuel tanker on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island on May 6 left 16 people dead and four others injured.

A disaster management official, Hasbi Hasidqi, said fourteen bus passengers and two individuals from the tanker were killed, Caliber.Az reports, citing foreign media.

Four survivors were taken to the hospital, three of them suffering severe burns.

Preliminary reports indicate that one of the bus’s tyres may have burst.

The driver “lost control and crashed,” causing “a massive fire” that engulfed both vehicles, Hasidqi added.

The tanker was transporting diesel.

Transport accidents are relatively frequent in Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago where buses, trains, and even aircraft are often ageing and inadequately maintained.

Last month, a long-distance train collided with the rear, women-only carriage of a stationary commuter train near Bekasi Timur station in West Java, killing 16 women and injuring at least 90 others.

A few days later, another train struck a car in Central Java, killing four people, including two children.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov