DENPASAR, Indonesia – Five Chinese tourists were killed and eight others injured when their tour minibus crashed on a winding mountain road in Bali on Friday, local authorities reported.

The accident occurred in the Buleleng district on the northern side of Indonesia’s popular resort island when the driver lost control of the vehicle on a curved and sloping section of road.

Among the dead were three women and two men, all Chinese nationals, according to police. The Indonesian driver and eight other passengers sustained minor injuries in the crash.

“The driver was unable to control the vehicle… the vehicle crashed into a farm, collided with a tree,” said Bachtiar Arifin, a local traffic police officer investigating the incident.

Police have notified the Chinese consulate about the tragedy, and consular officials are working to contact the families of those involved in the accident.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation, though preliminary reports suggest the driver lost control while navigating the challenging terrain typical of Bali’s mountainous northern region.

Pattern of traffic fatalities

The deadly accident highlights Indonesia’s persistent road safety crisis. Fatal traffic accidents are disturbingly common in the Southeast Asian nation of 280 million people, where traffic regulations are frequently ignored and vehicle maintenance standards are often inadequate.

Recent years have seen several major transport disasters across the archipelago. In August 2022, at least ten people, including four young children, were killed and more than 20 injured when a truck crashed into a bus stop outside a school near Jakarta, the capital.

Earlier that same year, 16 people died and dozens more were injured when a truck descending a remote mountain road in West Papua careened off a cliff.

Indonesia’s challenging geography, with thousands of islands connected by varying quality roads, combined with limited traffic enforcement, continues to pose significant safety risks for both residents and the millions of tourists who visit annually.