Crane driver falls 70m to his death

JAKARTA (JP): A tower crane operator, at a 24-story building project in the Mega Kuningan area in South Jakarta, died instantly yesterday when the crane's cab plunged 70 meters to the ground.

The 23-year-old operator, identified as Khafidz -- a resident of Kampung Belut in Jombang, East Java -- was using the machine to lift iron rods when the cab dislodged.

Khafidz's limbs were severed from his torso in the freak accident.

"None of Khafidz's friends, who were working at the project, noticed him so we don't know how it happened," Sumidi, a technician at the Sentral Mutiara project, said.

It was Khafidz's screams that alerted workers, he said.

"We were running in different directions in a panic after we learned that the crane's cab had fallen down."

"The cause of the cab coming loose may have been that the jib's axis was not functioning properly," Sumidi said. "It got stuck but Khafidz forced it and that's when the cab dropped to the ground."

"He's been working with the project's developer PT Sumicon for only two weeks," he added. "Before that he was an employee of the Wika construction firm."

Setiabudi Police gathered together Khafidz's remains after security guards shut down the construction site and ordered the workers to leave.

"Our supervisor told us that Khafidz's body was sent to the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital morgue so we went there to identify him," Sumidi said.

Other workers gathered at the morgue to wait for Khafidz's family to claim his body.

Sukamto, the project supervisor, declined to comment on the incident.

One of the Khafidz's close friends, Sutimin, said Khafidz had migrated from his hometown five years ago and lived with fellow workers from East Java in a barrack in the Karet area.

"As the eldest of five children, Khafidz was the backbone of his family in Jombang," he said. (04)