Bareskrim Polri Rules Out Sabotage in Sumatra Blackout, Cites Weather and Technical Factors
A widespread blackout affected Sumatra in recent days, with Bareskrim Polri confirming no sabotage was involved.
“Until now, we can confirm there is no indication of sabotage or intentional elements in the blackout incident,” said Deputy Chief of Bareskrim Polri, Irjen Pol. Nunung Syaifuddin, at the Bareskrim headquarters in Jakarta on Monday, 25 May 2026.
He explained that a joint team comprising Bareskrim’s Special Crimes Directorate (Dittipidter), General Crimes Directorate (Dittipidum), Police Forensic Laboratory (Puslabfor), Jambi Provincial Police Criminal Investigation Unit (Ditreskrimsus), and PT PLN representatives conducted an investigation on Sunday, 24 May 2026. The inspection focused on transmission towers 175 and 176 of the power grid in Tempino Village, Mestong District, Muaro Jambi Regency, Jambi Province.
Based on initial identification, a disruption occurred on the 275 kV transmission line between Muara Bungo and Sungai Rumbai in Jambi at around 6:44 pm WIB last Friday. The joint team found a broken transmission cable at the site, while the transmission towers remained intact with no significant damage.
“According to initial field reports, the transmission cable breakage is suspected to have occurred suddenly due to weather factors and requires further technical and scientific investigation,” he said.
The suspicion is reinforced by local residents’ accounts of an explosion followed by a power outage near the transmission tower shortly before the incident.
Subsequently, the joint team coordinated with PT PLN and learned that the Sumatran power system was operating normally and interconnected as of 6:30 pm WIB on 22 May 2026. Significant power flows to West Sumatra passed through the Jambi transmission corridor, specifically the Muara Bungo-Sungai Rumbai line.
Therefore, any disruption in this corridor could lead to a large-scale power loss and trigger a blackout in the Sumatran interconnected system. Nunung stated that the preliminary cause of the blackout is likely technical issues and extreme weather affecting the transmission system, not sabotage.
“Because the damage or breakage of the cable or network is not neat. It appears frayed. If it were sabotage, the cuts would be cleaner,” he added.
Nevertheless, for further investigation, the broken transmission cable section is currently being handled by Puslabfor for laboratory examination and detailed analysis to determine the exact cause of the damage.
“All investigative processes are conducted professionally, transparently, and comprehensively to ensure the primary cause is scientifically and accountably determined, hence our involvement of Puslabfor for scientific validation,” he said.