Fire kills mother, four children
Puji Santoso, The Jakarta Post/Pekanbaru
A 30-year-old mother and her four children were killed early Thursday when a fire razed their home in Siak regency, Riau province, residents and police said.
The victims were Yanti, Wela, 11, Agustina, 9, Ridho, 4, and Rio, eight months. Yanti's husband Sandi Sahrono, known as Yeyen, 35, survived the tragedy.
The fire started at around 00:30 a.m., allegedly from a kerosene lamp. Yeyen, a gasoline vendor, was selling gasoline to a customer at his house in the hamlet of Suak Lanjut, Pauh village.
Yanti's father Zulkifli said that his daughter and four grandchildren were about to go to bed on the second floor of the half-built house, but a man knocked at the door to buy some gasoline.
Not wanting to disappoint his customer, Yeyen opened the door and served his customer, while his wife and four children remained on the second floor, Zulkifli added.
After the customer left, Yeyen did not directly join his family but instead filled up some empty jerricans with gasoline, while carrying a kerosene lamp, as the village was experiencing a power blackout since last Saturday.
The lamp ignited the gasoline he was pouring into a jerrican.
As Yeyen was shocked, he threw the jerrican. The fire spread quickly to the filled gasoline drums and gutted the house.
The neighbors felt helpless and could only cry out for help as the blaze grew bigger.
A fire-fighting team arrived around 10 minutes later, and managed to prevent the fire from spreading to neighboring houses.
Yanti and her children were trapped inside the blaze and were unable to flee to safety.
Siak Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Jaya Subriyanto, accompanied by chief detective Adj. Comr. Haldun, confirmed the five deaths.
Three of the charred bodies were found embraced on the bed, while the other two lay separately on the floor, Jaya said.
"Only one survived the tragedy, namely Yeyen, the head of the family, because he fled the house when the fire started," he added.
Jaya said the police were questioning Yeyen about the fire.
"However, he is still in shock over the tragedy in which he had lost his family," the regency's police chief added.
Fires are common in Indonesia during the dry season, mostly due to negligence on the part of building owners and residents.
Fires have also been razing forests and cropland in Riau and several other parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan.