Fire destroys Bandung vegetable market

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Fire ravaged the main vegetable market of Gedebage in Bandung, destroying a total of 152 kiosks which were all closed after the owners had gone home at 11 p.m. on Monday.

No fatalities were reported but police estimated on Tuesday that the fire had caused hundreds of millions of rupiah in financial losses.

Several people have been questioned, but no one has been arrested over the fire.

Police have yet to find out what exactly caused the fire, but a fire fighter, Asep, said that the blaze originated from an oil stove belonging to a trader. "The owner forgot to turn off the oil stove before leaving the kiosk," Asep speculated.

It took almost nine hours for fire fighters to put the conflagration out.

"The wind was so strong that the fire gutted other parts of the market very quickly, even though we had no problem obtaining water from nearby hydrants," another fire fighter, Alben Sidauruk, said.

Bandung has two main vegetable and fruit markets, Gedebage and Caringin, which supply vegetable and fruit to Bandung and its surrounding areas.

The Gedebage fire is expected to disrupt fruit and vegetable supplies.

On Friday, an elementary school building in Ujung Berung was destroyed by fire forcing some 900 pupils to go to other schools.

The school management has given an unexpected holiday to those students who were unable to secure places in neighboring schools.