Jakarta: Two trains collided outside the Indonesian capital Jakarta late on Monday, the state-owned KAI rail company said, killing at least two people and prompting a mass evacuation effort.
"Hospital records show that two victims have died," KAI spokesman Franoto Wibowo told Kompas TV at the scene, adding victims were still being evacuated from the wreckage with assistance from the military, fire brigade, the national search and rescue agency and the Red Cross.
Indonesian broadcaster Kompas TV showed footage of ambulances and paramedics placing passengers on gurneys at the scene of the crash near the Bekasi Timur Station, some 25 kilometres (15 miles) from Jakarta.
Kompas said the crash involved a long-distance train and a commuter train.
Franoto could not say how many people were injured.
"As for the victims, we have made every effort to evacuate them as quickly as possible to the nearest hospitals," he said.
"We are still in the process of collecting data and evidence... The detailed chronology of the cause will be delivered later by the authorised authorities."
The last major train crash in the Southeast Asian country killed four crew members and injured about two dozen people elsewhere in West Java province in January 2024.
Transport accidents are not uncommon in Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation where buses, trains and even planes are often old and badly maintained.
Sixteen people were killed when a commuter train crashed into a minibus on a level crossing in Jakarta in 2015.
