Gamis Caught in Motorcycle Chain Kills Mother and Daughter in Kulon Progo

A 54-year-old housewife identified by the initial K and her 21-year-old daughter, HAS, died after the motorcycle they were riding crashed on Jalan Purworejo-Wates in Padukuhan Kuwonan, Kalurahan Triharjo, Kapanewon Wates, Kulon Progo, Yogyakarta, on Sunday afternoon. The single-vehicle accident happened at around 14:50 WIB. K was pronounced dead at the scene, while HAS died later while receiving intensive care at RSUD Wates.

According to Iptu Sarjoko, head of public relations at Kulon Progo Police, the case is being handled by the traffic accident investigation unit (Gakkum) of the district's traffic police. He said investigators concluded from their scene reconstruction and witness statements that the motorcycle lost control because the long gown, or gamis, worn by K as a passenger became entangled in the rear sprocket. The Honda Supra X 125, registered AB 2407 HL, was traveling from Kulwaru toward Wates when it veered off the western side of the road.

"The vehicle lost control and left the left (western) side of the main road because the clothing/gamis of the motorcycle passenger, K, was caught in the rear gear of the vehicle," Sarjoko said in a statement on Sunday.

A resident near the scene, Sri Waluyatmi, said she went to the road after hearing a loud crash shortly after finishing prayers. She described finding two bodies — a woman and a younger woman, whom bystanders said were mother and daughter — with HAS lying near a telephone pole and her mother closer to the middle of the road. The motorcycle had plunged into a resident's yard that sits lower than the road shoulder, she added.

Sri said she saw a strip of green batik fabric wound tightly around the motorcycle's rear sprocket and chain, which she believed was part of the daster or gamis the mother was wearing. "The mother was wearing a daster. It looked like a piece of her daster," she said. The motorcycle was badly damaged, with a shattered headlight, a destroyed chain cover and scratches on its bodywork.

The victims' uncle, Marsidi, confirmed the two were mother and daughter and that K was his younger sister. He said HAS was in her final semester at a university in Solo, Central Java, and had recently finished her thesis and a community service program. She was being taken to the train station to travel back to Solo when the accident occurred.