Bogor fire shocks families, destroys wedding plans
Bogor fire shocks families, destroys wedding plans
By Maria Andi and Ahmad Junaidi
BOGOR, West Java (JP): Frantic relatives have besieged the Red
Cross hospital for news of missing relatives feared to have
perished in fires since last Saturday.
After the 29 passengers were burned alive in a Kramatdjati
bus, last Saturday, the hospital was shaken Thursday and
yesterday with another round of fearful enquiries concerning the
76 bodies dragged out of the debris of the Kebon Kembang market,
which was swept by fire on Thursday.
"This week has the toughest period ever for us," a senior
doctor, who refused to be named said.
The hospital team is now facing the daunting task of having to
identify the people, mostly Ramayana Department Store employees,
who were burned beyond recognition in Thursday's blaze.
Because no more than ashes remain of some of the fire victims,
distraught relatives have been haunting the corridors of the
hospital around the morgue since Thursday in hopes of some
concrete information concerning the fate of their loved ones.
"My daughter has not come home yet, Doctor, I am not sure she
survived the fire," a father told Dr. Budi Sampurna, a hospital
pathologist, at the morgue.
"Do you remember any of the jewelry your daughter was wearing
when she left home, or do you remember the condition of her
teeth?" Budi asked the man, who was seeking her daughter, Elia,
22.
"Although many of the victims were burned to ash, we have been
able to identify some of them through the jewelry they were
wearing, or their teeth," he said.
The doctor then showed him the body of a woman with earrings,
but the man could not be sure the remains were those of his
daughter.
"Let's wait for my wife. She knows the jewelry Elia was in the
habit of wearing better that I do," he said.
So far six victims have been identified. One of them was the
body of Yosi Anggraini, who was identified by her brother,
Ramsul.
He said he checked at the Salak hospital in Bogor where eight
Ramayana employees were treated for burn injuries on Thursday.
Some of them told him they saw Yosi trying to escape from the
fire.
"Another friend told me Yosi failed to escape," Ramsul told
The Jakarta Post at the Red Cross Hospital yesterday. "I could
easily identify her body because of her red wristwatch, and the
earrings and necklace she was wearing."
Wedding plans
The fire, which destroyed the three-story Kebon Kembang market
Bogor, also destroyed Djadjang's plan to watch his daughter be
married in August.
Djadjang, 56, said that his daughter, Partini was to marry her
boyfriend, Muhaimin, in August.
"She and Muhaimin planned to go to her grandmother's home in
Central Java next week to tell her of their plans," Djadjang told
the Post.
"Muhaimin burst into tears when I told him that Partini has
yet to come home since the fire," Djadjang said.
Djadjang, a resident of Jl. Kantin, Pabaton subdistrict,
Bogor, said his family and Muhaimin's family had already met to
discuss the wedding plans.
Djadjang, who also has three sons, said that he was surprised
when he knew Partini woke up at 4 a.m. on Thursday. Partini
usually woke up at 5 a.m. every day.
He said Partini left home at 5:15 a.m. after saying her
morning prayer. He said his 23-year-old daughter usually came
home at 8 a.m. and then returned to the department store at 1:00
p.m. daily.
"Partini usually comes home to have lunch, but not this
Thursday," Partini's mother, Naila, said.
Djadjang said he could remember Partini's earrings. "But I
would not recognize her body," he said, adding that he had been
seeking his daughter in all of the hospitals in Bogor.
"I give up. I don't have any hope that Partini is still alive.
Only God knows," he said before Partini's body was identified
last night.
There are still many parents sitting in mute in despair at the
morgue, hoping to find out what happened to their missing
children.