Fire halts research on plant species

BOGOR: The Bogor-based Research and Development Center of the Ministry of Forestry has been forced to suspend research following a fire in its laboratory on Thursday.

The fire destroyed a six-meter-by-12-meter room in the building and its contents, including notes of ongoing research on rare plant species.

"The material loss was not much, but from the academic point of view, we suffered a lot," head of the center A. Angaloken Ginting said, adding that research on a number of rare species had to be suspended.

He said it was believed that the fire was caused by an oven that exploded in the laboratory. The oven was used to treat wood to eliminate its oil content.

The fire was put out by four fire engines. --JP