A man who miraculously survived after his car was hit by a KRL Commuterline train on a railway crossing in the Cipayung district of Depok, West Java, this morning may now face legal consequences for trespassing and disrupting public services.
The driver, who has since been identified as Ahmad Yasin, is the leader of an Islamic boarding school (pesantren) in Bogor. He was reportedly on his way to a high school in Jakarta to attend a Quran recitation competition as one of the judges and he claimed that his map app directed him to the fastest route, which he said he wasn’t too familiar with.
At around 7am, the KRL Commuterline train going from Bogor to Jakarta’s Kota Station collided with Yasin’s car on the railway crossing on Rawa Geni street, located between Citayam and Depok stations. The car was squeezed between the train and the crossing gate and became heavily damaged as a result of the collision.
Yasin managed to get out from the car’s front window before jumping the fence — a moment that was filmed by local residents and has been widely circulated on social media since.
Alhamdulilah Korban selamat dari kecelakaan di pintu kereta citayam a/ n Ustad ahmad yasin pic.twitter.com/ma8kiB8MMC
— Yhadin Sp (@YhadinSp) April 20, 2022
Endi Rais, the rail crossing guard, said that he had already warned Yasin to stop as the train was approaching.
“When the car got on [the railway crossing], I already stopped him. ‘Watch out!’ I said, but he just entered the crossing,” Endi said, adding that the car was dragged for approximately 10 meters and that the driver fled the scene.
Firefighters later arrived at the scene after receiving a report from a passenger inside the train.
Coincidentally, Yasin’s brother was around the area at the same time. Yasin asked him to take him back to the pesantren, where he received a massage. Yasin said that he suffered a number of bruises on his arms, right leg, and face, as well as spraining his waist as a result of the accident.
Speaking to the media, Yasin claimed that he got out of his car in case there was a fire, not to avoid culpability for the accident.
Train departure schedules at a number of stations were momentarily disrupted in the aftermath of the incident. The car evacuation process concluded at around 10am and KRL Commuterline routes in the direction of Jakarta and Bogor are already back to normal.
In the latest development, KRL Commuterline operator PT KAI stated that they will hold Yasin accountable for breaking through the railway crossing.
“KAI will sue the car driver to hold him accountable for his actions because he didn’t prioritize train travel, which resulted in damage to facilities and disruption to travel [schedules],” PT KAI spokesman Joni Martinus said in a statement today.
Joni also urged the public to prioritize train travel at railway crossings, as stipulated in Indonesia’s Railway Laws as well as the Law on Traffic and Land Vehicles. The train operator, along with local authorities, have closed the railway crossing to avoid similar incidents in the future.
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