11 dead, dozens injured in Indonesia after a bus carrying students loses control and plunges into traffic

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 sleepy 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.