Drowsy Driver Smashes Bus Into Billboard, Killing 14 Tourists

Indonesia tourist bus with a drowsy driver slammed into a billboard on a highway on Monday killing at least 14 people and injuring 19 others, police said.

The accident happened on Indonesia’s main island Surabaya, the capital of East Java province.

The bus, carrying Indonesian tourists was returning from a trip to Central Java’s Dieng Plateau, a popular mountain resort, when it hit the billboard on the Mojokerto toll road just after dawn, East Java traffic police chief Latief Usman said.

Television news showed police and medical personnel removing victims from the bus, which crashed just 400 meters (yards) before the highway exit.

Usman said police are still investigating the cause of the accident, but that the driver reportedly appeared drowsy before the crash.

He said police haven’t yet questioned the driver, who suffered severe injuries. Nineteen people were being treated in four hospitals in Mojokerto, mostly for broken bones.

Road accidents are common in Indonesia because of poor safety standards and infrastructure.

A similar incident happened in 2018, a packed tourist bus returning from an outing collided with a motorbike and plunged from a hill on Indonesia’s main island of Java after its brakes malfunctioned, killing at least 27 people.

The bus driver suffered light injuries.

At least 18 others were hospitalized with injuries, some in critical condition, following the crash on a winding slope in Subang in West Java province, said local police chief Muhammad Joni.