GOOD NEWS!

NOBODY GOT KILLED! The day after the accident, I scoured online newspapers in Indonesian (and there’s not very many – certainly not one from my small town) until I eventually found the crash mentioned. Apparently it was big enough to be newsworthy an hour and a half away from here.

The article, translated into English, reads more or less like this:

Jaka Purwanta (37), the driver of a semi loaded with steel, can finally breathe free. After a little more than 1 hour wedged in his vehicle after it hit another semi, this citizen of Polanharjo, Klaten succeeded in freeing himself safely after the accident at the Kauman intersection, Wahid Hasyim Street, Sidorejo district, Salatiga, Thursday (5/5) at around 8:45 PM.

The victim only suffered minor injuries in his leg and was rushed to the Salatiga hospital. The accident happened because the semi, driven by the victim, experienced brake failure. While moving downhill, someone tried to block the wheels of the 35 ton truck. But because the rock used was not strong enough to withstand the speed of the truck, it continued to roll down the Solo-Semarang road.

From the opposite direction, another driver, Mulyadi (54) of Ungaran, Semarang was trying to pass a stalled vehicle. The two vehicles were coming toward each other until finally they crashed. At the same time, an Isuzu Panther, driven by Dedy (32) of Debong Wetan, Dukuhturu also became involved.

The front end of the Panther was smashed. The co-driver of the semi loaded with steel, Lestari (51) said that before the accident, the overloaded vehicle experienced brake failure.

"My truck was chocked, but it didn't stop it. I was safe because I was outside the truck," he said. The accident attracted the attention of the people nearby.

The Salatiga Police chief, Mr Kusdiantoro testified that the evacuation process took about 1.5 hours. According to Kusdiantoro, the accident happened because the semi was overloaded. The total load was 35 tons.

To untangle the traffic jam on the Semarang-Solo road, many traffic officers were called in to direct traffic. Vehicles from Solo were diverted to downtown Salatiga. Conversely, traffic from Semarang was rerouted to the Jetis gas station.

 

So... yeah. That’s the story. And in case it wasn’t clear, the co-driver of the runaway semi was the one who tried to chock the wheels. He had actually jumped out of the truck and thrown a cement block under one wheel, but the truck kept rolling. After I read the account, I remembered another detail that I had forgotten in the aftermath – I almost hit that cement block! I had been grumbling about what idiot would leave a cement block in the road when the sound of the crash almost knocked me over. The Panther was the car that I had seen... I’m still not clear on exactly how it was involved in the accident, but the driver was OK, as was the driver of the other semi.

On a slightly lighter note, the original article, in stating, “From the opposite direction, another driver, Mulyadi (54) of Ungaran, Semarang was trying to pass a stalled vehicle”, uses the verb “menyalib” which means “to crucify”. I was very confused while trying to translate this. Why was the other driver trying to crucify the stalled semi? I thought there must be another translation than the one I knew, so I looked it up. Nope. Only “to crucify”. I finally had to ask a friend (who laughed at me for a long time  before answering), and he told me that in context, it meant that he was trying to pass! THAT makes so much more sense...

Also in the good news department – BOYFRIEND GOT HOME TODAY! He made it safely at 6 am and I had lunch with him after he woke up. : )