BEKASI: Two trains collided outside the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Monday, killing at least four people and prompting a mass evacuation effort, officials said.

There were chaotic scenes at the Bekasi Timur station some 25 kilometres from Jakarta, with rescue workers shouting for oxygen tanks as ambulances stood by in a snaking queue, lights flashing.

A reporter at the scene witnessed people being carried out of the wreckage on gurneys and loaded into waiting ambulances as hundreds of bystanders looked on, some seemingly in shock.

Spokeswoman Anne Purba of the state-owned KAI rail company told reporters at least four people had died and more than 30 were hospitalised. Deputy house speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad said the toll could rise.

“Judging from the evacuation process that is still under way, it is possible that the number of victims may continue to rise,” he told reporters.

Another KAI spokesman Franoto Wibowo told Kompas TV victims were being evacuated from the wreckage with assistance from the military, fire brigade, the national search and rescue agency and the Red Cross.

Jakarta police chief Asep Edi Suheri said a long-distance train had crashed into the last, women-only, carriage of a commuter train. Most of the victims were in that carriage, and rescuers were cutting into it to free people trapped inside. According to Franoto, a taxi had apparently clipped the commuter train on a level crossing, causing it to come to a standstill on the tracks.

“As for the victims, we have made every effort to evacuate them as quickly as possible to the nearest hospitals,” Franoto added.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2026