20 Fire Engines Battle Blaze on Basarnas Vessel in Muara Baru

The Public Relations officer for the Jakarta SAR Office, Ramli Prasetio, confirmed that the vessel KN SAR Ramawijaya 240, the main ship belonging to the Mentawai Search and Rescue Office (Basarnas), caught fire whilst undergoing annual maintenance or docking at a shipyard owned by PT Proskuneo Kadarusman in Muara Baru, North Jakarta, on Wednesday evening. “The ship that caught fire belongs to Basarnas Mentawai, and currently, 20 fire engines are extinguishing the blaze at the location,” said Ramli Prasetio in Jakarta on Wednesday. He stated that the vessel does not belong to the Jakarta SAR Office but was undergoing annual repairs at the company located in the Muara Baru area. “The firefighting process is currently underway,” Ramli said. Meanwhile, the Head of Operations for the North Jakarta and Thousand Islands Fire and Rescue Sub-department, Gatot Sulaeman, said that 14 fire engines and 70 personnel had been deployed to extinguish the fire. “The situation is currently in the cooling-down phase,” said Gatot. He stated that residents reported the ship fire at 19:58 WIB, and officers arrived at the location and began extinguishing the fire at 20:03 WIB. “As of 20:44 WIB, the process of cooling the fire was still ongoing,” Gatot explained. He added that officers are still working in the field to gather statements from witnesses regarding the cause of the fire. “We are still collecting information on the cause and the estimated losses,” Gatot added.