Wedding tragedy as 13 killed when pickup truck carrying guests ‘crushed by two lorries’

Indonesian authorities are investigating events

More than a dozen people have been killed after a pickup truck carrying wedding guests was crushed between two lorries on a busy Indonesian motorway.

Officials confirmed the crash, on Indonesia’s main island of Java, killed 13 people and injured five others.

The crash occurred Sunday afternoon, July 12, on the northern coastal motorway near Kiajaran Kulon village of Indramayu regency.

The group was returning home after attending a wedding in neighbouring Parean village, local traffic police chief Undang Syarif Hidayat said.

He said the victims were traveling in an open-bed pickup truck when the vehicle slowed and stopped near a gap in the central reservation to make a U-turn on the motorway. It was then struck from behind by a wing-box truck traveling in the same direction.

“The impact pushed the pickup into the opposite lane where it was hit again by another truck,” Hidayat said.

“The powerful collision hurled more than a dozen people from the pickup truck onto the highway.”

Five survivors remain in hospital with injuries ranging from minor to serious, police said. Authorities are investigating the cause of the crash.

Deadly traffic accidents are common in Indonesia, where overloaded vehicles, inadequate road safety measures and poor compliance with traffic regulations frequently contribute to fatal crashes.