JAKARTA, INDONESIA – At least 16 people have died after a coach bus crashed into a barrier and overturned on an Indonesian highway during the early hours of Monday morning.
The bus, which was travelling from the Indonesian capital Jakarta to Yogyakarta, was moving at a “fairly high” speed when it reached a turn at a highway interchange, according to Budiono, head of the local search and rescue agency.
The vehicle collided with a road barrier before flipping over in the fatal accident.
“We have evacuated 34 people,” said Budiono, who uses only one name. He confirmed that 15 passengers were pronounced dead at the scene, while another victim died after being transported to hospital.
Several injured passengers were taken to the city of Semarang for medical treatment, rescue officials said.
Footage released by the search and rescue agency showed emergency workers placing a victim into a body bag while the overturned bus lay on its side nearby.
Pattern of fatal accidents
The latest tragedy highlights Indonesia’s ongoing struggle with transport safety. The Southeast Asian archipelago nation frequently experiences serious road accidents, often attributed to ageing vehicles, poor maintenance standards, and widespread disregard for traffic regulations.
In 2024, at least 12 people lost their lives when a car crashed into a bus and another vehicle on a busy highway as travellers made their way to celebrate Eid al-Fitr.
The country’s deadliest bus accident to date occurred in 2019, when at least 35 people were killed after a bus plunged into a ravine on the western island of Sumatra.
Indonesia’s vast geography, consisting of over 17,000 islands, makes transport safety a persistent challenge for authorities trying to regulate vehicle standards and enforce road safety measures across the sprawling nation.
