The group was heading home from a wedding in nearby Parean village when the collision happened on Sunday afternoon on the northern coastal highway close to the village of Kiajaran Kulon in Indramayu regency, according to local traffic police chief Undang Syarif Hidayat.
According to him, the victims were in an open-bed pickup truck when it was hit from behind by a wing-box truck going in the same direction. The truck had slowed and stopped close to a median opening in order to make a U-turn on the highway.
AP Photo
“The impact pushed the pickup into the opposite lane, where it was hit again by another truck,” Hidayat stated. “The powerful collision hurled more than a dozen people from the pickup truck onto the highway.”
According to officials, five survivors were still in the hospital with slight to moderate injuries.
The cause of the collision is being looked into by the authorities.
Overloaded cars, insufficient road safety precautions, and a lack of adherence to traffic laws are prominent causes of fatal traffic accidents in Indonesia.
