Man, pregnant lover die in Tambora fire<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A 48-year-old butcher and his pregnant 38-year-
\nold live-in girlfriend were burned to death in a fire that razed
\ntheir small two-story rented house in Tambora district, West
\nJakarta, in the early hours of Saturday.<\/p>\n
The fire, believed to have been caused by a short circuit in a
\nfan in the couple's room, also forced occupants of a neighboring
\nhouse to hastily move the corpse of a man, who had died several
\nhours earlier and was being kept at the house awaiting burial.<\/p>\n
Local police are still investigating the cause of the fire.<\/p>\n
Witnesses and a relative of one of the victims said the fire
\nwas first spotted at 2 a.m. at the top room of the victims'
\nrented house.<\/p>\n
The fire also partly burned two neighboring houses. All of the
\nhouses were made of plywood.<\/p>\n
Knowing that access to the scene was too narrow for fire
\nengines, neighbors did their best to jointly put out the fire.<\/p>\n
The couple were identified as Liong Ben Fu, alias Loli, a pig
\nbutcher, and his live-in partner, Sumiyati, by Yanto, Loli's
\nbrother.<\/p>\n
Yanto said the couple were asleep on the first floor of the
\ntwo-meter-by-two-meter two-story house when the fire broke out.<\/p>\n
\"It's a small, old house with bad electrical installation,\"
\nsaid Yanto, who lives nearby.<\/p>\n
Neighbors Bukhari and Endi said that several people had tried
\nto wake the victims but the door was locked.<\/p>\n
Yanto said he knew there was a fire but went back to sleep. He
\nhad no idea that the blaze had taken the lives of his brother and
\nSumiyati until he was informed a few minutes later by neighbors.<\/p>\n
\"They were still laying on the bed. I could only recognize
\nthem from their teeth because their faces could no longer be
\nrecognized,\" Yanto said sadly at the Cipto Mangunkusumo General
\nHospital.<\/p>\n
He said that Sumiyati was four months pregnant.<\/p>\n
The couple had just moved into the house a month ago, paying
\nRp 75,000 per month rent.<\/p>\n
\"She was a hooker at the Kalijodo red-light district in West
\nJakarta, where my brother met her a year ago.<\/p>\n
\"It seemed to me that my brother had pulled her out of
\nprostitution and they had decided to live together and start
\nmaking a good family,\" Yanto said.<\/p>\n
He added that the couple planned to get marry in Sumiyati's
\nhometown in Kendal, Central Java, next month.<\/p>\n
Both bodies, he said, would be buried in the Tegal Alur
\ncemetery, West Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Head of the local neighborhood, Laman, said the only valuable
\nthings saved from the fire was Rp 256,000 (US$35) in cash and a
\nfive-gram gold necklace.<\/p>\n
\"We will hand them over to the families of the victims,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Laman, however, regretted that a television set and money
\nbeing collected in a bucket by neighbors and relatives of the
\ndead man, who had died earlier on Friday, were stolen by those
\nwho helped extinguish the fire.<\/p>\n
The owner of the rented house, Liah, said Loli and Sumiyati
\nhad only a few things in their room.<\/p>\n
\"All they had was a big bag of clothes, a kapok mattress and a
\nwall fan,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Separately on Saturday, a paper factory was partly burned in
\nnearby Kalideres. No fatalities were reported. (06\/asa)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/man-pregnant-lover-die-in-tambora-fire-1447893297",
"image": ""
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