Bogor mayor stops Bogor fire search operation
Bogor mayor stops Bogor fire search operation
BOGOR, West Java (JP): Bogor Mayor Eddy Gunardi ordered the search for the victims of the Pasar Kebon Kembang market fire stopped yesterday and announced that only 10 people were killed.
More than 70 people were reported to have been killed by the mass media.
He said the remaining 66 plastic bags, out of the 76 believed to contain ashes of human bodies, which were sent to the Red Cross Hospital, contained other materials. The mayor did not say how this conclusion was made before laboratory examinations were done.
A hospital pathologist, Dr. Budi Sampurna, told reporters yesterday that the ashes were still under examination. He said it would take at least one week for the forensics team made up of police experts and doctors to complete the examinations.
"We have definitely identified 10 bodies. We are still unsure about the content of the 66 bags. But there is a small possibility that the ashes are those of human bodies," he said.
Up to yesterday evening, only the body of Muslimah, a resident of Lampung, Sumatra, had yet to be claimed by relatives.
Setyadi Surya, the director of public relations for PT Ramaya Lestari Sentosa, which manages the Ramayana Department Store, said in a press conference in Jakarta yesterday that all Ramayana Bogor employees were summoned yesterday morning and "only 10 were missing".
According to the management, the missing employees are Muslimah, 23, Partini, 23, Atik, 24, Uci. R., 21, Yati Hidayanti, 24, Nurfaidah, 22, Zainah, 22, Eliyah, 22, Yosi Anggraini, 22, and Nurhasanah, 18.
"On behalf of the management I herewith correct the media reports that 76 of our employees were killed in the fire," he said. He explained that there were at least 50 mannequins at the shop when the fire broke out, which might have led to some confusion in attempts to retrieve bodies.
The fire burned down five blocks of the three-story market building on Thursday morning. Some Ramayana Department Store employees were on the third floor when the fire started.
Survivors and local traders said that it was hard for people to find a way out because only one of the five doors were open at the time.
Witnesses said they saw some employees trying to get out through the only entrance in Block B, where the fire reportedly originated. Some of them managed to jump out of the windows.
It took 12 fire-fighting units until Friday afternoon to bring the fire under control. Yesterday, firefighters were still pouring water onto spots which were still smoking.
The regional manager of Ramayana Bogor, Imam Pranoto, said that the company would give the relatives of the victims Rp 10 million (US$ 4,500) each in compensation, apart from the insurance.
Meanwhile, the traders at the ground and second floors of the market building asked for police permission to check their belongings in the shops. The building had 2,600 kiosks on the two floors below.
"We will be allowed to enter the market compound on Monday," trader Sapardi said.
Many traders were skeptical about the body count yesterday, saying that it was not clear whether colleagues, who were trying to save merchandise as the fire spread, survived the inferno.
"We are not sure if they left the place or were trapped in the blaze," Wisman said.
Mayor Gunardi acknowledged that local traders had complained about weaknesses in the market construction. Their complaints focussed on the same problems that made it difficult for the firefighters to get into the building.
Local traders have complained, since the Ramayana Department Store went in two years ago, about the five blocks of the market being linked together at the top.
"The five blocks should have been separated from each other to prevent fire from spreading throughout the entire area," Gunardi said.
The Pasar Kebon Kembang market was constructed in 1989, and the annex building on the top floor, which was rented by Ramayana, was built three years ago.
Gunardi said he was appointed only two years ago. He promised to be more careful in giving permits for any public construction in the future.
The annex, the latest part of the market, should have had an adequate number of emergency doors, he said.
Imam Pranoto said yesterday that the design of the existing structure was approved by the authorities, and that the construction was covered by legal permits. The management also had permission from local traders to open the department store there.
"We wouldn't have been here if we hadn't been permitted," he said.
The Bogor store is one of 43 outlets in 15 towns, owned by PT Ramayana Lestari Sentosa. The company employs 15,000 workers, mostly female. Led by Paulus Tumewu, the company also owns the Robinson department store chain. Both are aimed at buyers of middle to lower income levels.
In January the Warta Ekonomi business magazine reported that the Ramayana and Robinson stores had assets of Rp 400 billion (US$171,16 million), with revenues of Rp 409 billion last year.
Set up as a small store in 1974, the company is listed among the 300 top companies by the Indonesian Business Data Center.
Another fire which killed workers trapped in a building occurred in 1987 in Jakarta. Twenty-one garment factory workers were killed in Tambora district, West Jakarta. (team)