Six Singaporeans were injured last Saturday (9 May) when a minibus they were travelling in crashed along a mountain road in Indonesia.
Footage of the accident posted on Facebook showed the minibus careening down the road and slamming into a telephone pole.
Source: Abimanyu Arya Bima on Facebook
In what appeared to be CCTV footage, the minibus is earlier seen speeding down a steeply sloped road.
As it veered from the left lane to the right lane, it let out a loud screech and swayed from side to side.
It left a cloud of dust in its wake as it disappeared round a bend.
Source: Abimanyu Arya Bima on Facebook
Another video taken from another vehicle showed a white car stopping behind it.
Source: Abimanyu Arya Bima on Facebook
A man who stood by the roadside ran away, having seen something.
A bang is heard, then the minibus smashes head-first into the white car, causing it to flip over.
The minibus then hit a telephone pole, which stopped it from going farther.
Source: Abimanyu Arya Bima on Facebook
But the impact causes the pole to tilt and almost fall over.
Source: Abimanyu Arya Bima on Facebook
The accident took place at 11.45am local time (12.40pm Singapore time) on Saturday on the highway leading to Ngadas Village in Probolinggo Regency of Indonesia’s Java Island, reported Detik.com.
The route is popular with tourists travelling to and from Mount Bromo.
The minibus, a Toyota HiAce, was carrying the six Singaporean tourists from the mountain to Surabaya when it encountered suspected brake failure, said the Probolinggo Police Traffic Unit.
The brakes are suspected to have overheated, making them ineffective when going down a steep incline.
The group’s tour guide, named Yopi, said the minibus’ brakes failed about 300m before the crash.
As the vehicle was travelling at 75 km/h, this caused it to go out of control on the sloping road and hit four other vehicles.
Source: Abimanyu Arya Bima on Facebook
Behind the wheel was a substitute driver, he added.
The police said the minibus came to a stop only when it hit the pole, thankfully avoiding about 30 residents holding a celebration nearby.
Besides the six Singaporeans, two other people who were in the other vehicle were injured in the accident.
Footage showed the minibus passengers being helped out of the vehicle.
Source: Abimanyu Arya Bima on Facebook
It also showed some others resting on the ground.
Source: Abimanyu Arya Bima on Facebook
All the injured were conveyed to a hospital in Probolinggo City for treatment.
Police officers were at the scene to manage traffic congestion caused by the recovery of the wreckage.
Also read: Bodies of 2 S’porean hikers killed by eruption of Mount Dukono in Indonesia found
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Featured image adapted from Abimanyu Arya Bima on Facebook.