The Jakarta Post, Medan Thu, 06/28/2012
A minivan carrying nine passengers veered off the road and plunged into a deep ravine on Thursday morning at Batu Gantung near Lake Toba in Sibaganding village in Simalungun Regency, North Sumatra.
Eight passengers reportedly died at the scene. One child survived but was critically injured and is now being treated at Parapat Hospital nearby.
An officer with the local search and rescue team, James Sinaga, said that the accident occurred at 5 a.m.
As of 9:30 a.m., emergency crews had not been able to recover any of the passengers’ bodies from the wreckage of the minivan, which was perched on a cliff 150 meters from the bottom of the ravine.
“So far, we only managed to rescue the injured child survivor. However, we could not recover any of the casualties as the minivan is hanging on a cliff,” James told The Jakarta Post.
James added that the police were investigating the cause of the accident.
A joint team made up of from the search and rescue workers and police has been deployed to recover the victims’ bodies and the wreckage of the minivan
do 28 jun 2012 - 7:47