A major accident befell a double-decker bus owned by the Gunung Harta bus company (PO Gunung Harta) on the Nganjuk Toll Road KM 631 in the early hours of Saturday (1/8). The vehicle with license plate B 7572 KGA, which was serving the Jakarta to Jember route, was completely burned down, leaving only a metal frame.
Although the entire body of the bus was devoured by the flames for nearly two hours, a miracle of safety protected all passengers. A total of 30 passengers and three crew members were reportedly evacuated safely before the flames grew larger and destroyed the vehicle.
Purwanto (61), the bus driver from Wuluhan, Jember, recounted the tense moments of the evacuation. As the bus was traveling from Pondok Cabe to Jember, a thick plume of smoke suddenly emerged from the front steering area. Realizing the imminent danger, Purwanto immediately coordinated with the backup driver and conductor to wake up all the passengers who were fast asleep.
The emergency rescue efforts bore fruit with zero casualties, although some of the passengers' belongings could not be saved and were burned to ashes. To tame the fire, six fire engines from Nganjuk and Madiun regencies were deployed to the location to carry out firefighting and cooling operations on the vehicle carcass.
During the dynamic evacuation process, traffic flow around the scene remained under control. Personnel from the East Java PJR Unit 6 Nganjuk, along with the Jasa Marga team, were on standby at the scene to manage traffic flow and prevent long traffic jams on the highway.
