Fire hits Kowani building

JP/R. Berto Wedhatama

JAKARTA (JP): Fire fighters (photo above) are busy putting out the huge fire that destroyed the two-storey Indonesian Women's Congress (Kowani) building at Jl. Imam Bonjol No. 58 at noon on Wednesday.

No fatalities were reported.

At least five fire engines attended the blaze and managed to put out the fire some 30 minutes after it started.

Central Jakarta Fire department officers suspected the fire was caused by an electrical short circuit. Police detectives were still looking into the matter.

Kowani employees were seen running from the building, trying to save from the fire whatever goods they could carry.

Total losses caused by the fire have yet to be calculated.

The side of Jl Imam Bonjol that normally carries traffic heading toward Jl. Diponegoro was closed temporarily due to the incident.

Earlier on Tuesday, two huge fires, on Jl. Lodan Raya in Ancol, North Jakarta, and in the Pulogadung area of East Jakarta, left thousands of people homeless.

Displaced residents had to sleep in makeshift tents they had put up around the site of the fires, while they waited for donations of food and clothing from city residents. (ylt)