Bus Carrying Students Plunges into Ravine in West Java, Killing 22

Jakarta. A bus carrying junior high school students, their parents and teachers plunged into a ravine in the West Java town of Sumedang on Wednesday evening, killing at least 22 people.

The bus was on its way to neighboring Subang district after taking the students for a pilgrimage in Tasikmalaya when the accident occurred.

A staff with the local public health center, or Puskesmas, said the bus carried 58 people.

“There are 22 bodies so far but we don’t know yet about the overall death toll,” the staff, identified only as Yeye, told local news website Detik.

He said some of the victims were rushed to a government hospital, making it difficult to immediately determine the number of victims.

The bus crashed 20 meters into a ravine at a plantation in Sumedang, some 85 kilometers from the West Java capital of Bandung, at around 6.00 p.m.

Residents from a nearby village rushed to the scene to help evacuate the victims.

“The victims include mothers and children,” Sukajadi village head Dede Suhendar was quoted by local news website AyoBandung as saying.

He said he and other residents had pulled at least 15 bodies from the wreckage.