Police gather list of suspects in dump disaster<\/p>\n
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post\/Bandung<\/p>\n
A team of four experts from the Office of the State Minister for
\nthe Environment has been assigned to determine whether the
\nmanagement of the Leuwigajah dump was responsible for the garbage
\ncollapse on Monday that buried more than 100 residents.<\/p>\n
Sixty-eight bodies had been recovered from the mountains of
\ngarbage as of Friday, while 88 others are still missing.<\/p>\n
The police drew up a list of suspects in the case after
\nquestioning four residents and officials who managed the dump.<\/p>\n
Cimahi Police chief of detectives Adj. Comr. Slamet Uliandi
\nsaid the police would not release the names of the suspects for
\nthe time being.<\/p>\n
\"We have the names (of suspects) but we will not announce them
\nbecause we are still waiting for supporting facts from the
\nenvironment ministry's team of experts,\" he told The Jakarta Post
\non Friday.<\/p>\n
Over the last two days, detectives have questioned four
\nresidents as witnesses, as well as three officials from the
\nLeuwigajah dump, which receives garbage from Bandung regency and
\nmayoralty, and Cimahi mayoralty.<\/p>\n
The officials were identified as the head of sanitation in
\nCimahi municipality, Sutisna Sumantri, the director of Bandung
\nsanitation firm PD Kebersihan, Awan Gumelar, and the head of
\nCimahi's environmental agency, Arlina Gumira.<\/p>\n
Detectives not only want to find out whether there was
\nunlawful taking of life, as defined by Article 359 of the
\nCriminal Code, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in
\nprison, but also whether there were any violations of Law No.
\n23\/1997 on environmental management.<\/p>\n
The team of experts dispatched by the Office of the State
\nMinister for the Environment's deputy assistant for law
\nenforcement, Darsono, arrived at the dump on Friday to determine
\nwhether the dump met national standards. It will also establish
\nwhether the dump has a mandatory environmental impact analysis
\nand operating permit, and if it meets the designated spatial plan
\nfor open dumps.<\/p>\n
\"We will ask for their information tonight, meaning we will
\nget their response on Saturday,\" Slamet said.<\/p>\n
Fifty-eight families forced from their homes by the garbage
\ncollapse and now sheltering at the SD Batujajar II elementary
\nschool demanded the administration permanently relocate them to a
\nsafer area.<\/p>\n
Residents living near the dump had long complained of air
\npollution and ground contamination from the dump long before the
\ngarbage collapsed buried 70 homes.<\/p>\n
The Bandung regency administration, however, said there were
\nno locations to where it could relocate the affected residents.<\/p>\n
The search for more bodies was temporarily halted on Friday
\nbecause of heavy rain.<\/p>",
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