27 killed as bus plunges into ravine in Indonesia

At least 27 people, including junior high school students, were killed and several others injured as a bus carrying dozens of pilgrims plunged down a steep ravine on Indonesia’s Java island, authorities said on Thursday.

Rescuers worked through the night using cranes to pluck injured survivors from the wreckage after the fatal crash late Wednesday in West Java’s Sumedang district.

The bus carrying 66 passengers was traveling on a winding, poorly lit road when it plunged down the 20-meter ravine, authorities said.

The driver and teenage passengers were among the dead, while 39 survived the accident. The bus was returning to Subang from a religious pilgrimage site in West Java.

Authorities said they were searching for the cause of the accident.

Traffic accidents are common in the Southeast Asian archipelago. In 2019, at least 35 people were killed when a bus plunged into a ravine on the island of Sumatra.

ARR