JAKARTA (XINHUA) – Seven people were killed and an infant was wounded after a minibus they were on was badly hit by a truck carrying heavy machinery in the Indonesian regency of Mukomuko in Bengkulu province, a local traffic police officer said yesterday.
Mukomuko traffic police chief Rully Zuldh Fermana said that there were eight people in the damaged car when the accident happened at around 6pm local time on Thursday. All of the victims are identified as from a family, he added.
According to a preliminary report, the fatal accident occurred after the truck which was on its way from Mukomuko to the province’s capital Bengkulu allegedly lost power while driving up a hilly road. It then hit the minibus with the eight people on board behind.
Fermana said further investigations were still underway, while all the victims were already evacuated and to be passed to their relatives.
Deadly road accidents, often caused by overloading, bad road conditions and reckless driving, are frequently reported in Indonesia.
