Indonesia bus collision kills seven

One bus driver lost control of his vehicle and slammed into another bus

BANDUNG, INDONESIA: Seven people were killed as two passenger buses collided on a busy toll road in Indonesia Thursday, authorities said.

The fatal accident, which also left 16 people injured - some seriously - happened shortly after midnight on a route in West Java that connects to the capital Jakarta.

One bus driver lost control of his vehicle, which crossed a road median before slamming into another bus travelling in the opposite direction, killing seven including its driver and injuring more than a dozen on board, according to West Java police spokesman Trunoyudo Wisnu Andiko.

The driver who lost control of the bus was injured, but none of his passengers were hurt, he added.

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The cause of the accident was not immediately known.

Traffic accidents are common in the Southeast Asian archipelago, where vehicles are often old and poorly maintained and road rules regularly flouted.

In September, at least 21 people died when a bus plunged into a ravine in West Java's Sukabumi region.

Several months earlier, 12 people were killed and dozens more injured when a passenger tried to wrest control of a bus steering wheel following an argument with the driver on the same toll road in West Java as Thursday's accident. The bus smashed into two cars, causing a truck to roll.