35-hour traffic jam leaves 18 people dead

An horrific traffic jam in Indonesia has reportedly claimed the lives of 18 citizens stuck in the maddening heat.



Road users who were travelling from Jakarta to Tegal in Java are reported to have been stuck in the traffic jam on the East Brebes toll road which lasted for roughly 35 hours.
Although the reports on the case vary on how long the traffic is said to have lasted, the number of hours ranged from 20-35 hours.

Some drivers who had experienced the hellish traffic jam, claim that the queues to pay the toll made the situation far worse than it should have been.

Lensa Indonesia reports that the Berbes chief medical officer, Sri Gunadi Parwoko, revealed that 18 people have died along the stretch of the road in the past week.

A total of 12 victims are reported to have perished from fatigue, with another five dying in an accident at a road crossing, and the last by mysterious circumstances.

One of the victims identified simply as Azizah, 14, reportedly died of carbon dioxide poisoning after the car he was in got stuck for over six hours.

Although reports claim that some of those who died had pre-existing health problems which were escalated to fatal points by the heat, the traffic jam inadvertently led to their deaths.


The traffic jam had been so thick that even motorcycle ambulances had been unable to reach the victims.

May their souls rest in peace.