Jakarta (AFP) – The Indonesian president on Tuesday ordered the opening of an investigation after a collision between two trains Monday evening near Jakarta which left 15 dead and dozens injured, according to a latest report.

Published on: 04/27/2026 - 8:09 p.m. Modified on: 04/28/2026 - 12:46 p.m.

A large rescue operation continued until Tuesday morning near Bekasi Timur station, 25 km east of the capital Jakarta, where the accident occurred Monday evening when a stationary commuter train was hit by a mainline train.

Infrastructure Minister Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono told reporters on Tuesday afternoon that the death toll now stood at 15 (up from 14 so far) and 88 injured.

Mohammad Syafii, director of the national search and rescue agency, announced the end of the search mid-morning.

All the victims were on board the commuter train and the approximately 240 passengers on the other train were all evacuated safely, according to Anne Purba, spokesperson for KAI.

Jakarta police chief Asep Edi Suheri said a mainline train hit the last car, reserved for women, of a stationary commuter train.

Another KAI spokesperson, Franoto Wibowo, said a taxi apparently hit the commuter train at a level crossing, stopping it on the track where it was hit. The collision between the two trains then occurred around 8:40 p.m., Mr. Franoto said.

President Prabowo Subianto visited hospital patients on Tuesday. He offered his condolences to the relatives of the deceased and said he had ordered an “immediate investigation”.

He also ordered the construction of a footbridge for cars spanning the railway line.

“In general, we find that many crossings are not guarded,” the president said.

“I have ordered that we immediately repair all these crossings, either by guard posts or by slides,” he added.

“I thought I was going to die”

“I thought I was going to die,” Sausan Sarifah, 29, said from her bed at RSUD Bekasi hospital, where she was admitted with a broken arm and a deep cut on her thigh.

“Everything happened so quickly, in a fraction of a second,” continued the young woman, who was returning from work when the train stopped at Bekasi Timur station.

"There were two announcements on our train. Everyone was ready to get off and suddenly we heard (...) a deafening noise," she said.

"We didn't have time to get out and we all found ourselves piled on the train, crushed on top of each other. I don't know how the person below me was doing."

Sausan said she feared she would be asphyxiated in the indistinct mass and worried about the people trapped below.

“Thank God I was upstairs so I was able to be evacuated quickly.”

All the victims were in the last car of the commuter train and rescuers cut the bodywork to free the trapped people.

“Significant damage”

The accident caused “significant damage to several cars,” the Jakarta search and rescue agency said in a statement.

“We are still collecting data and evidence. (...) The detailed timeline (...) will be communicated later by the competent authorities,” added a KAI spokesperson.

Eva Chairista, 39, told AFP she rushed to RSUD hospital after learning her sister-in-law, Fira, 27, had been injured

“The doctor told us to be patient, that many others were in more serious condition than her,” she testified.

The previous train accident of comparable importance in Indonesia left four dead and around twenty injured in the province of West Java in January 2024.

Accidents are not uncommon in this Southeast Asian country, a vast archipelago where coaches, trains and planes have often operated for many years.

In 2015, a collision between a commuter train and a minibus on a level crossing killed 16 people in Jakarta.

© 2026 AFP

The content you are trying to access does not exist or is no longer available.