Jakarta Globe, August 30, 2011
This year's mudik season has claimed 345 casualties so far, already a 140 percent increase from the same period last year, an official said on Tuesday.
Bambang Tjahyono, the Transportation Ministry official heading the department monitoring the annual migration, told news portal Detik.com that between Wednesday last week and Monday 345 people died from more than 2,200 accidents.
Over the same period last year, 144 casualties were recorded from 743 accidents.
Another 564 people suffered from heavy injuries over the same 6-day period this year, while 1,385 were registered for minor injuries.
Bambang blamed the accidents largely on "reckless driving," but he also said the increase in statistics was a result of a better monitoring system.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam has said some 15 million Indonesians are expected to travel to celebrate Idul Fitri in their hometowns this year.
“It is about a 4.14 percent increase from the 14 million people last year,” Anton said.
di 30 aug 2011 - 7:56
