Indonesia train derails in landslide; 3 dead

Indonesian police search for survivors following a train derailment at village Mekar Sari in Tasikmalaya, West Java, Indonesia, Friday, April 4, 2014. A landslide triggered by heavy rain derailed a train as it travelled through Indonesia’s main island of Java. Rail track is seen at bottom. (AP Photo/Erwin Gobel)

JAKARTA, Indonesia — A passenger train hit mounds of mud triggered by a landslide and derailed in central Indonesia, killing at least three people and injuring seven, a railway official said Saturday.

A landslide following torrential rain buried part of the tracks at a dark junction in heavy downpour and the train’s brakes could not stop it from hitting the mud.

The train derailed late Friday in Tasikmalaya, a district on Java island, killing two men and a female train attendant, said Junerfin, a spokesman for the Indonesian Railway Company who like many Indonesians uses only one name. Seven others were hospitalized, including two in critical condition, he said.

Three coaches fell into a 10-meter (32-feet) deep ravine, sending hundreds of panicked passengers running away. Rescuers pulled out the three bodies pinned under the wreckage, Junerfin said.

Train accidents are common in Indonesia’s aging railway network and poor infrastructure.