Death Toll Rises to 31 in Train Collision in Indonesia

The death toll in train collision in Cirebon, Indonesia's West Java province, rose to 31, according to the Detikcom online news service.

The accident occurred at 0430 a.m. local time on Sunday (2130 GMT Saturday) when a commuter train serving Jakarta-Yogyakarta (Central Java) route hit a locomotive moving slowly at the train station in Cirebon, a city in the northeast of West Java.

Police said more victims were believed to be trapped in the wreckage. However, efforts to find survivors were being hampered due to a lack of heavy-lifting equipment.

Minister of Transportation Agum Gumelar rushed to the scene on Sunday morning. He was quoted by the Antara News Agency as saying that "human error" was to blame for the accident.

Indonesia has had a string of fatal train crashes recently. Officials blamed signal failure for most of the accidents.






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