“There are some victims who are alive to this minute and we’re hoping to extricate them,” he said. “We need to involve personnel with certain skills to perform a measured extrication.”
Bobby Rasyidin, the president director of state-owned railway operator KAI, said on Tuesday that 81 injured are being treated for their injuries in nearby hospitals.
Rasyidin added that the accident happened when the commuter train hit a taxi, which was lying across the middle of the rail crossing, preventing the train from moving forward.
An oncoming long-distance train then crashed into a women-only carriage on the passenger train.
Some people screamed “hysterically” as the trains collided, one passenger told the BBC’s Indonesia service. Other eyewitnesses said they saw “many victims” injured in the crash.