14 Dead, 84 Injured After Train Collision Near Jakarta

A commuter train collision at Bekasi Timur Station left 14 people dead and 84 injured, turning one of the busiest rail corridors outside Jakarta into the focus of a fresh safety reckoning. PT KAI chief executive Bobby Rasyidin confirmed the toll as rescuers finished pulling survivors from wrecked carriages on Tuesday morning.

The crash happened late Monday in Bekasi, West Java, about 25 kilometres from Jakarta, when the Argo Bromo Anggrek long-distance train struck a Commuter Line train. Mohammad Syafii, head of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency, said the evacuation was completed after nearly 12 hours of work and described the extraction as delicate because passengers had to be cut free from mangled cars. Rescuers used angle grinders and other tools to reach trapped people, and officials said a women-only carriage took the worst of the impact.

Franoto Wibowo, a KAI spokesman, said the commuter train first collided with a taxi on a level crossing before being hit by the long-distance train. That sequence has placed immediate scrutiny on signaling, dispatching and the safety of crossings around Jakarta’s crowded rail network, where commuter and intercity services share tight operating space. One passenger described being trapped inside a crushed carriage and fearing suffocation, a sign of how violent the impact was.

President Prabowo Subianto visited injured passengers in Bekasi and ordered an "immediate investigation." Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee is now examining the crash, while KAI said the deceased were taken to Kramat Jati Police Hospital for identification. The injured were treated at Bekasi Regional Public Hospital, Primaya Hospital and Bakti Kartini Hospital.

KAI said it would cover medical expenses and funeral costs and set up an emergency response command post and information center at Bekasi Timur Station, which remained closed to the public. Limited rail traffic resumed on the downstream track, but Commuter Line services were terminating at Bekasi Station. The crash has renewed pressure on Indonesia’s aging rail infrastructure, especially at crossings near densely populated Jakarta, and revived memories of the last major train disaster in West Java in January 2024, when four crew members were killed and about two dozen people were injured.