BBC News, October 2010 Last updated at 02:47 GMT
One train had been stationary at Petarukan station |
A traincrash near the Indonesian city of Pemalang in Central Java province has killedat least 35 people, officials say.
Dozensmore were hurt and many bodies were trapped in the carriages, though almost allhave now been retrieved.
Thecrash happened before dawn, when a train from the capital Jakarta hit astationary train at Petarukan station.
Officialssaid the most likely reason for the accident was a signalling error.
TheBBC's Karishma Vaswani in Jakarta says train accidents are common in Indonesia,with officials often citing human error, badly maintained trains and a lack ofinvestment in rail infrastructure as the causes.
Highspeed
Thetrain from the capital was heading to Surabaya when it crashed into the back ofanother train bound for Semarang that was stationary at a platform at about0300 on Saturday (2000GMT Friday).
Thetrain from Jakarta was travelling at high speed, officials said.
Most ofthe dead and injured were in three carriages which were derailed andoverturned.
At least40 people are reported injured, many with broken bones or burns. All have nowbeen taken from the scene and are being treated in hospital.
Onewitness living close to the station told Agence France-Presse news agency:"Suddenly I heard a loud crashing and the sound of many people crying. Isaw many passengers had been thrown outside the carriages."
Onepassenger on the stationary train told AFP: "It was really scary. I wentoutside and realised that the rear carriages had been smashed."
Nationalpolice spokesman Iskandar Hasan said: "The suspected cause of the accidentwas a mistake in the traffic management system."
Transportministry spokesman Bambang Ervan added: "It may have been mechanical.We're checking to see if the signals of the parked train were workingproperly."
Therewere also reports of a second train crash in the town of Solo, which left oneperson dead.
Mr Ervansaid that information was still being collected on casualties there.
Six diedin a train crash in East Java in June.
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