Herman Susanto and Dwi Aksan were heading from Indonesia’s capital Jakarta to the satellite city of Cikarang after a long day at work on Monday when disaster struck.

Susanto, the head of the Indonesian Workers’ Federation, and his colleague, Aksan, were in the third carriage of a commuter train crammed with workers going home at around 9pm when it stopped to let passengers alight at Bekasi Timur station.

The two men had hoped to rest before they reached their final stop, but instead, they found themselves staring in horror as a long-distance train travelling from Jakarta to the city of Surabaya hurtled towards them, furiously sounding its horn and flashing its lights.

“The commuter train I was on had been about to leave the station and the doors closed, but then it suddenly stopped and the doors opened again,” Aksan said.

“I was standing next to them when I saw the high-speed train coming towards me. It was just a reflex. I jumped out of the door and landed on the platform,” he added.

What Aksan did not know at the time was that another commuter train, travelling in the opposite direction from Cikarang to Jakarta, had hit an electric taxi that had become stuck on the tracks.