Two dead in ‘ojek’-train collision in Cawang

JAKARTA: An ojek motorcycle taxi driver and his passenger died after a train slammed into their motorcycle on Tuesday at an unguarded railway crossing.

A witness, Rojak, said he shouted a warning to the driver as he entered the crossing between Tebet station in South Jakarta and Cawang station in East Jakarta. “I yelled at them, shouting that a train was about to pass, but they did not seem to hear me.”

The train crushed the motorcycle and dragged the pair more than 100 meters. The men, identified as Aziz and Ratiyah, died at the scene due to massive head trauma, beritajakarta.com reported.

Another witness, Abdul Salam, said that there were usually people guarding the illegal crossing. “However, when the accident happened, they were not there.”

Their bodies of the victims were taken to Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital for autopsies.

The accident occurred almost a month after the Transportation Ministry’s railways directorate launched a Rp 2.16 billion (US$226,800) project to close 144 illegal railroad crossings in Greater Jakarta.