Fire razes 800 kiosks

An estimated 800 kiosks were reduced to ashes when a fire razed a traditional market at Balaraja, Tangerang, some 20 kilometers from here, over the weekend.

No casualties were reported from the blaze, which took 16 fire trucks, over 100 firemen and dozens of security officers more than six hours to extinguish.

The fire fighters had difficulty putting out the fire because there is no river in the area.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but witnesses told The Jakarta Post that it was due to an exploding stove in a kiosk belonging to Munadi, one of the traders at the market which is located in the center of the town.

Police said that they had questioned Munadi and three other traders in connection with the blaze, but released them several hours later after finding no indication that they had done anything wrong.

"We rule out the possibility of arson," a police officer said.

The blaze practically gutted all the stalls in the market, including a motorcycle parked near a shop, as well as more than 40 jewelry shops.

Material losses were estimated at hundreds of millions of rupiah.

Balaraja district chief H. Miftahul Ilmy said that for the time being the traders who lost their kiosks are being accommodated at a makeshift market on a nearby soccer field.

He said plans had long been afoot to move the traders to a permanent marketplace, but that construction of the new market had fallen through due to a host of technical and financial factors. (13/bas)