Explosion at Scrap Metal Yard Causes Alarm; Police Investigate Triggering Object

Police are investigating an explosion at a scrap metal collection site on Jalan Padat Karya, Air Merbau village, Tanjungpandan, Belitung regency, Bangka Belitung Islands, on Sunday (25 October 2026). The incident left a scrap collector seriously injured and taken to hospital.

Belitung Police enlisted the Bomb Disposal Unit (Jibom) of Battalion B, the Bangka Belitung Islands Police Mobile Brigade, to examine the site and guard against the possibility of further explosions.

Belitung Police Chief AKBP Satria Darma said police received a report of the explosion at around 4pm Western Indonesian Time. Officers arriving at the scene evacuated the victim and secured the site.

“Earlier this afternoon, at around 4pm, we received a report of an explosion. Belitung Police officers went straight to the location and found one person seriously injured, who has now been taken to hospital,” he said.

After evacuating the victim, police cordoned off the area and coordinated with the Mobile Brigade team to make it safe. The examination is intended to identify the source of the explosion and determine whether any other dangerous objects are nearby.

“We are working with the Bomb Disposal Unit (Jibom) of Battalion B, the Bangka Belitung Islands Police Mobile Brigade, to investigate the cause of the explosion, which left one person seriously injured,” AKBP Satria Darma said while visiting the scene.

He said the cause of the explosion had not yet been established, as police were awaiting the bomb-disposal team’s findings. “We are still waiting for the official examination results to confirm the source and exact cause of the explosion,” he said.

Initial checks found that the victim worked as a collector of used goods, particularly scrap metal. Police suspect that an object made of metal collected by the victim may have exploded during weighing or cutting.

“There is a possibility that a piece of scrap metal collected by the victim exploded while it was being weighed or cut. But this can only be confirmed after a thorough scene examination by the Bomb Disposal Unit,” he said.

Police are also gathering witness statements to establish the sequence of events. They are searching the area to ensure there are no dangerous objects that could trigger another explosion.