Many sidewalks in Indonesia consist of concrete blocks placed along the top of a drain. These sidewalks are absolute nightmares in times of low visibility (or when one is inebriated), because some concrete blocks may be damaged or completely missing.
One such sidewalk seriously injured a Dutch tourist on Bandung’s commercial and entertainment hub of Dago Street recently. As told by local radio announcer Sazkia Rosseina Gaziscania on Facebook, a Dutch woman fractured her leg and ribs after falling into a hole on a sidewalk Tuesday evening.
https://www.facebook.com/sazkiaghazi/posts/10155315005224145
According to Sazkia, she was driving home on a motorcycle that rainy evening when she heard calls for help from a middle aged foreign couple. When she came over to help, she saw that the wife, a Dutch woman named Marion, had plunged her leg into a hole in the sidewalk, saying she suspected she broke her leg because she couldn’t stand up and walk.
Sazkia called for an ambulance for Marion, but none came after they waited for 15 minutes. She then dialed the Indonesian Red Cross Society (PMI), who swiftly arrived with an ambulance to take Marion and her husband, along with Sazkia, to Santo Borromeus Hospital.
An X-ray showed that Marion suffered two fractures on her left leg and three fractures on the right side of her ribcage. Sazkia wrote that Marion was scheduled to undergo an operation the next day, and when she left the couple they were so appreciative of her help that the husband hugged her and thanked her repeatedly.
Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil visited Marion in the hospital to apologize in person yesterday. He said that he would cover all of her medical expenses, and then some, as a token of his apology.
“I apologized directly to Ibu Marion, I have taken care of all matters including hospital bills, hotel bills. We will also give them business class tickets for their flight home, so that they’re comfortable traveling while (Marion) is limping,” Ridwan said, as quoted by Kompas yesterday.
Ridwan added that the incident put a dent in the couple’s remaining travel itinerary, which included a trip to Bali, so he would fund the cost of their travels should they choose to return to Indonesia in the future.
Marion is expected to be out of the hospital in two days.
As for the hole in the sidewalk, Ridwan said he has reprimanded the head of Bandung’s public works agency and instructed them to fix sidewalk holes in Dago and throughout the city immediately.
Below is a photo by Detik of the hole that injured Marion. This is sadly common across Indonesia, and we hope it wouldn’t take more foreign tourists getting injured for the government to fix them all for our safety.
Di Trotoar Dago Ini Turis Belanda Terperosok hingga Patah Kaki https://t.co/g7WTKOolcm pic.twitter.com/ZLEf1SUlTm
— Detik Bandung (@detik_Bandung) October 4, 2017
