At least 11 dead, mostly students, in a bus crash in Indonesia after the brakes apparently failed, police said

BANDUNG, Indonesia (AP) — A bus slammed into cars and motorcycles in Indonesia’s West Java province after its brakes apparently malfunctioned, killing at least 11 people, mostly students, and injuring dozens more, officials said Sunday.

The bus carrying 61 students and teachers returned late Saturday from the hilly resort area of ​​Bandung to a high school in Depok, outside the capital Jakarta, after a graduation ceremony, West Java police spokesman Jules Abraham Abast said.

It spun out of control on a downhill road, crossing lanes and hitting several cars and motorcycles before crashing into a utility pole, he said.

Nine people died at the scene and two others died later in hospital, including a teacher and a local motorist, Abast said. Fifty-three other people were hospitalized with injuries, some in critical condition, he said.

“We are still investigating the cause of the accident, but a preliminary investigation revealed a malfunction of the bus’s brakes,” Abast said.

Local television footage showed the wrecked bus on its side in the darkness, surrounded by rescuers, police and passers-by as ambulances evacuated the injured.

Due to poor safety standards and poor infrastructure, traffic accidents occur frequently in Indonesia.

Last year, a tourist bus with an apparently drowsy driver crashed into a billboard on a highway in East Java, killing at least 14 people and injuring 19 others. In 2021, a tourist bus plunged into a ravine in the hilly resort town of Puncak in West Java after its brakes apparently failed, killing at least 27 people and injuring 39 others.