police have charged a train driver with allegedly failing to hit the brakes in time to prevent a crash that killed 16 women near Jakarta in April, an official said.
On April 28, a long-distance train smashed into a women-only car at the back of a stationary commuter train near Bekasi Timur station outside the capital.
Rescuers worked for hours into the night to pry open the crumpled carriages.
The 37-year-old driver of the long-distance train now faces multiple charges after an investigation found that he had hit the brakes too close to the stalled commuter train.
“Investigators concluded that the emergency braking action could have been carried out further away,” Jakarta police official I Dewa Putu Gede Anom Danujaya told a press conference.
The driver risks up to 12 years in prison if found guilty, said Dewa.
The incident killed 16 passengers of the women-only carriage – a feature on Indonesian trains to shield women from sexual harassment while commuting.
Another 107 people were injured, said a National Transportation Safety Committee report, adding that signalling and communication system failures contributed to the crash. — AFP
