Rescue and recovery work is ongoing at the site of a deadly train collision at a station on the outskirts of the Indonesian capital Jakarta which has killed at least 15 people and left dozens injured, while the search for potential survivors trapped in the wreckage continues.
The incident unfolded at around 20:50 local time on Monday when a commuter train on the Jakarta-Bekasi route hit an electric taxi and came to a halt. Minutes later, a long-distance express train traveling from Jakarta to Surabaya crashed into the stationary commuter train from behind. The rear carriage, designated for women only, bore the full force of the impact.
One anxious mother, Fitria Yunis, said she had been waiting at a hospital overnight following the crash. Her daughter, who was on board the commuter train, suffered serious injuries and is receiving treatment in the ICU.
"My daughter didn't realize at first that a train had hit a taxi. She was on her phone. When the second crash happened and the train collided, she was immediately thrown across the carriage. Her legs flew up in the air, and she became trapped between two metal poles. She screamed for help, and after several hours, they were able to evacuate her through a nearby window," she said.
Rescue teams have remained on-site since the collision and have been using heavy-duty equipment to reach victims who who are trapped inside the damaged carriages. Officials say the scale of destruction has made the operation slow and highly challenging.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto visited survivors at a hospital in Bekasi on Tuesday morning, extending condolences on behalf of the government and promising a swift investigation.
Agus Yudhoyono, Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development of Indonesia, gave an update from the site of the tragic incident.
"Right now we are in the second stage: the recovery process. We aim to have the damaged carriages lifted from the tracks. We will continue to evaluate the technical and operational side of this accident. We are aware that having a rail network that overlaps with our road and land transport is challenging, but we will investigate this further to find out what steps are needed to prevent a similar incident from happening," he said.
The accident has disrupted services across Jakarta's commuter rail network, which carries nearly one million passengers daily, affecting hundreds of thousands of commuters who rely on the trains for their daily journeys.
An investigation into the cause of the incident is being conducted by the rail operator and the National Transportation Safety Committee.
Death toll rises in Indonesian train collision as rescue, recovery work continues
The continuing conflict between Israel and Lebanon has not only displaced people from their homes, but also pushed farmers off the land they depend on in the south of the country, as an estimated 80 percent have stopped working due to damaged fields, unsafe roads, and fears of contamination.
Despite Israel and Lebanon agreeing last Thursday to a three-week extension of an original 10-day ceasefire deal which began between in mid-April, deadly Israeli strikes have continued to hit southern parts of Lebanon, resulting in numerous deaths and widespread damage.
Controversy has also arisen over the Israeli military's efforts to extend the territories it occupies in southern Lebanon as part of what it terms as a "security buffer zone" along the border.
Lebanese residents have been warned against returning to their homes within this area, with Israel announcing that anyone who approaches this so-called "Yellow Line" will be considered a threat.
However, in spite of these difficulties, some farmers in the southern city of Tyre are trying to keep their connection to the soil alive.
A group of women have been bravely planting on borrowed land, because their own is now too dangerous to reach. Here, there are growing herbs such as basil, sage, rosemary, mint and thyme in neat rows.
For displaced local farmer Zainab, who hails from the border town of Naqoura, this field is not home, but it is where she has found a way to keep going amid times of crisis.
"I was displaced from my own land. I'm a farmer. I used to farm my land in Naqoura, so I started farming here, too. As you know, most of us from the south are farmers. Agriculture is the main thing we do," she said.
Across southern Lebanon, roughly 80 percent of local farmers have stopped working either because they are unable to reach their land or they fear it is no longer safe.
More than 17,000 farmers have been affected, with their fields damaged by shelling, fires, bulldozing, and contamination.
Officials have condemned the Israeli attacks on the region which have put the livelihood of ordinary people at risk and have cost some innocent civilian their lives.
"Under the recent acts of aggression, there was difficulty for the farmers to get to their lands. Most of the times they would even be targeted. I know some farms owners who hired workers to harvest the crops -- as a result, unfortunately, some of them were killed," said Alwan Charafeddine, the Deputy Mayor of Tyre City.
Agriculture is a key part of the Lebanese economy, but also the backbone of daily life in the south of the country. The region produces staples like olives, citrus, tobacco and vegetables, and when farmers are forced off their land, the consequences are felt across the country.
"I left the land. I left the crops I had planted, which, according to the season, were cabbage, cauliflower, fava beans and peas. More than leaving the land, I left my whole life behind, and now I'm here," said Zainab.
"After the targeting of the bridge that connected Tyre with Sidon, it became hard to get many of the supplies we used to get through there, which has caused the prices of agricultural products to rise," said the deputy mayor.
But amid these hard times, a glimmer of hope remains. On land belonging to local authorities, the Seeds of Tyre project is giving displaced women work, a source of income, and an outlet which allows them to pass on their skills.
Using donated seeds of aromatic herbs, they are producing basil and rose water and orange blossom, generating a small economy which is taking root in the middle of a much larger loss.
For Zainab, working the soil here offers some stability at a time of conflict, with this temporary field helping farmers tick over as they wait for safe access to their own land.
Farmers turn to temporary fields as swathes of land destroyed in southern Lebanon
