T

he Jakarta Police said on Friday afternoon that they had arrested the dump-truck driver who allegedly caused a traffic accident, which killed five people and left four others severely wounded at the Jagorawi toll road earlier in the day.

“We have arrested the driver, AS, 24, at a house in North Jakarta. Right now, he’s being questioned at the traffic directorate’s law enforcement unit,” city traffic police chief, Sr. Comr. Dwi Sigit Nurmantyas, said.

Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto revealed that AS, a resident of Cijeruk village in Pandeglang, Banten, had worked for the past six months at a company that managed an industrial zone in Marunda, North Jakarta.

A horrific traffic accident, involving four trucks and at least a dozen asphalt workers, took place at kilometer 3,600 of the Jagorawi toll road heading toward Cibubur in East Jakarta at around 2:25 a.m. on Friday. Five of the workers were killed.

One of the victims’ colleagues, 17-year-old Arif Siswanto, told reporters that two asphalt trucks and a box car had been parked on the side of the Jagorawi toll road to do asphalt work on the road at the time of the accident.

“This sand-carrying truck came along driving at high speed toward Cibubur. Then all of a sudden, the truck veered left and hit the parked trucks. Perhaps the driver was tired and was feeling drowsy,” Arif said.

A dozen asphalt workers who were standing between the two asphalt trucks and the box car were crushed.

Some of the victims were also buried by sand from the crashed truck.

The five men killed were identified by police as Ikhsan, Rudi, Jenu, Rustono, and Dwi, while the four who were severely injured were Wanda, Suwanda, Daswan, and Agus.

Rikwanto said the five bodies had been taken to the National Police’s Sukanto Hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta. “Meanwhile, the four injured are being treated at the Indonesian Christian University Hospital [in Cawang, East Jakarta].”

The traffic police’s law enforcement unit chief, Adj. Sr. Comr. Sudarmanto, said police had seized the four trucks as evidence. “We have also questioned nine witnesses: Six were friends of the victims while the other three were traffic cops on patrol at the time of the crash.”

He said that AS may be charged with either reckless driving or consciously causing a traffic accident, as stipulated in Article 310 and Article 311 of the 2009 Traffic Law, respectively. “We’ll see whether he was conscious or not at the time of the crash before bringing charges,” he added.

Commenting on the horrific crash, City Police chief Insp. Gen. Untung S. Rajab urged all Jakartans to pay better attention to the safety of other road users.

“Road users must understand that there are other people on the streets, too. They must drive more safely so there won’t be any more unnecessary deaths like these in today’s accident,” he told reporters after Friday prayers at city police headquarters.