When Harum Anjarsari’s husband finally got through to her phone, he did not hear her, but instead, rescue workers who said they pulled the device from the debris of one of two ill-fated trains that collided outside the capital Jakarta.
Only a day later was Harum, 30, confirmed to be among the 16 people, all women, killed in a mangled carriage reserved for the use of women to avoid sexual harassment in crowded trains.
“She was clearly the economic backbone of the family,” said her brother Aldyansah, 25, describing the life of the mother of two children, aged three and nine, who worked as a cosmetics salesperson in an upscale mall in Jakarta.
“She was a great help to the family and was a really hardworking person,” Aldyansah said, as Harum’s husband was too distraught to speak.
The family was gathered at a police forensic unit where victims’ families took custody of relatives’ bodies, while others wept and some still waited for news of loved ones caught in the tragedy that injured 91, also mostly women.
Harum was one of the hundreds of thousands of women who ride each day on the commuter line linking the world’s most populous city with satellite cities to its east and west.
The busiest of Jakarta’s modes of public transport, it carries a daily average of more than 1.1 million people, the train operator says.
The crush of commuters during rush hours brought a feeling of suffocation that could make some women cry, said Nur Aisyah, 31, who works at an office building in central Jakarta and travels every day to Bekasi, the site of Monday’s collision.
“But why do I still ride it?” she asked rhetorically, before answering, “I have to, because I have to make a living.”
It is still the quickest and cheapest way to get home to your family, she added.
The last carriage of the usually- crowded train is always reserved for women, as in many countries, but Monday’s accident turned it deadly, when another train collided with it.
The accident aroused fears for their safety among women who take the same packed service in testing conditions even at the best of times in a city notorious for its nerve-wracking traffic.
“After the incident, I got scared because I got to and back from work on the women’s carriage,” said Nur Aisyah.
The collision happened just before 9pm, with the train less crowded than usual after peak office hours.
“Even now, it’s still on my mind,” said Bekasi resident Dian Afridianti, 34, who works in cleaning services in Jakarta. “I think about what if I’d been there.”
Mornings are also a challenge, with the women’s carriage packed when she gets on at 7am.
“People were jostling each other so much that the doors couldn’t close,” she added. “You really had to push your way through.”
More women rely on public transport than men as they find it affordable, said transport analyst Hafida Fahmiasari, as men control more financial assets in any given household in South-East Asia’s biggest economy.
“This (accident) will affect women but only in the short term,” added the doctoral candidate in civil engineering at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.
“Life must go on.” — Reuters
