Fire causes destruction, death in Greater Jakarta

Fire causes destruction, death in Greater Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): Greater Jakarta residents were hit by three
outstanding criminal cases involving fires over the weekend.

Two of the incidents occurred on Sunday morning, with one
causing two fatalities and the other the burning down of four
houses.

In the latter case, the valve of a tank containing kerosene,
meant to be illegally mixed with Solar fuel, was mistakenly left
open, after which the oil flowed into the Pekayon river gutter in
Pasar Rebo, East Jakarta. The oil caught fire.

East Jakarta police chief Col. Hidayat Fabanxio said it was
unclear how the fire was ignited, but it burned all through the
gutter and went on to burn four houses in the area at about 6:30
a.m. on Sunday.

"We were lucky that there were no fatalities here," Hidayat
said.

When the fire died down, nearby residents went to investigate
the source of the fire and the oil that flowed in the gutter. It
ended some 500 meters away from the burn site, at PT Muara
Pasogit Regar, the factory which owned the Solar fuel and
kerosene-filled tanks.

Quoting Buyung Sarumpaet who runs the factory and factory
security guard Damanik, Hidayat said the factory owner,
identified as Robert Siregar, was in Bandung, West Java, during
the incident.

"Buyung and Damanik agreed that the factory, established in
1989, was into 'faking' oil and selling it off to charcoal
processing factories and leather factories," Hidayat said.

Upon hearing receiving this information, residents immediately
began to protest the existence of the factory and threatened to
burn it down.

"Buyung said he would close down the illegal operations and
compensate for the losses the fire had caused," Hidayat said.

Separately, two men were burned to death and four others were
seriously injured in a Sunday morning fire at PT Sarana Griya
Lestari, a ceramics factory in Cibitung, Bekasi.

Bekasi police chief Lt. Col. Sutarman identified the dead
victims as factory workers Iskandar, 28, and Sualudi, 27.

"The four factory workers injured in the fire are receiving
treatment at the Karya Medika Hospital in Cibitung," Sutarman
said.

Both Iskandar and Sualudi, workers at the pressing division,
were trying to fix the pressing machine which had suddenly gone
dead, at about 9 a.m. on Sunday.

"The machine had been on day and night... suddenly, it just
went dead," Sutarman said.

The two victims were trying to fix the open cable wires. A
short circuit occurred and the wires fell on a nitrogen tank.

"The division just blew up, burning everything in sight.
Workers later put out the fire and found the dead bodies of their
friends," Sutarman said.

In the third incident, a young mother of two children died at
Cipto Mangunkusumo general hospital on Saturday morning of
serious burns which were allegedly self-inflicted on March 31.

The woman was identified as Tiara, 23, who lived with her
husband of six years, identified as Ferry, and Ferry's
grandmother, Noni, at their house on Jl. Raden Saleh, Ciledug,
Tangerang.

"We're still investigating the case. We are also keeping all
options open," Central Jakarta police chief of detectives Capt.
Hendra Suhartiyono said. (ylt)