Police question Carrefour manager<\/p>\n
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Police detectives interviewed the manager of a branch of
\nsuperstore Carrefour at Ratu Plaza shopping center in South
\nJakarta after Wednesday's gas poisoning incident that caused more
\nthan 20 employees to fall ill and forced the indefinite closure
\nof the store, the second such incident since early November.<\/p>\n
Four employees were still being treated in the hospital while
\nthe others have been released.<\/p>\n
Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Prasetyo told The Jakarta
\nPost on Thursday that two other Carrefour staffers, the
\nmanagement of the Plaza from PT Ratu Sayang and ten victims had
\nalso been questioned on Wednesday evening about the mysterious
\ngas.<\/p>\n
\"No suspect has yet been named in the case,\" he said, while
\nnot ruling out foul play in the puzzling affair.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, 20 employees of the superstore, mostly women,
\nwere taken to Pertamina Hospital after complaining of severe
\nheadaches and nausea. Doctors were still trying to determine the
\nexact cause of their symptoms.<\/p>\n
However, Prasetyo said, the police investigators found in the
\npreliminary probe that the exhaust fan located in the Plaza's
\nbasement parking area -- which is adjacent to the superstore --
\nwas not functioning properly.<\/p>\n
On Nov. 7, a total of 146 Carrefour employees were admitted to
\nthe hospital with similar symptoms and 45 required treatment for
\nseveral days. Six of the victims were put in intensive care for a
\nweek, however the test results were not released to the public,
\nby the hospital, police or Carrefour.<\/p>\n
The police are still investigating the most recent incident.
\nAfter the first incident, the police suspected that a leak in the
\nair conditioning system was responsible, however others have
\nspeculated that it was vehicle exhaust from the parking area.<\/p>\n
After the first occurrence, Carrefour resumed operations after
\ntaking several steps to rectify the situation, such as using the
\nemergency exhaust fan and reducing employee shifts from eight
\nhours to four.<\/p>\n
Carrefour spokesperson Trijono Prijosusilo told the Post that
\nthey had tried to reach officials from PT Ratu soon after the
\nfirst incident, because they were responsible for health
\nstandards pertaining to the working environment of the plaza's
\ntenants.<\/p>\n
\"We only received their answer this week, wherein they had
\nagreed to a meeting next week. But now it (the gas poisoning) has
\nhappened again,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Trijono deplored PT Ratu's failure to take the matter
\nseriously by repairing air circulation systems in the building,
\nespecially in the basement.<\/p>\n
\"We will not open the store until we are sure there will be no
\nmore risk (to our employees),\" he added.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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