Four maids perish in house fire

JAKARTA (JP): The gently falling rain could do nothing to ease the pain of Jonathan Chan and his family, who lost their four housemaids to a raging fire on Wednesday night.

Heavy rain and 13 fire engines were no match for the fire, which engulfed both the Chan house and E. Simanjuntak's, his neighbor, on Jl. Simprug Golf III in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.

"It was so unexpected ... I wanted to go back to save the four maids who were sleeping in the back room by our kitchen, but the fire was so big," Jonathan told reporters at the scene, while holding his wife.

The victims were identified as Pinten, 17, Juminten, 20, Sri, 29 and Rini, 23.

Like the Chan family, the children's babysitters, Pini, Nani and Ani, who were sleeping in a front room, were able to climb over the fence that surrounds the home.

"I'm just grateful to God that I could save my wife and my children (Yosephine, 10, Rusmanti, 9, Nathan, 4, and Alexis, 1) in time. I'm not sorry about the loss of my goods and home. They're insured. Lives are most important."

Kebayoran Lama Police chief of intelligence and detectives First. Lt. Ayep said the fire, which raged till the early hours of Thursday morning, started after a short circuit in the kitchen at about 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

"It spread rapidly, taking the lives of the four maids, the entire Chan residence and the family's four cars. It then went on to burn the first and second floors of the Simanjuntak residence," Ayep told reporters.

"The fire engines arrived at about 1 a.m. on Thursday. It was E. Simanjuntak's good luck that all eight people in his family were saved, including his wife, child, grandchild and four maids. They have now moved to another house they own on the same road."

Jonathan said that at about 10 p.m. on Wednesday the family were gathered in the living room discussing family matters.

At about 10:30 p.m., he left the house to attend to a business matter and returned at about 11 p.m., after which the family and housemaids went to bed.

"Suddenly, my wife woke up coughing ... she said she sensed a strong smell of smoke. When we saw what it was, we got our kids up and ran towards the front door, and jumped over the fence. The three babysitters followed us," Jonathan said.

"Suddenly I remembered the four others sleeping in the back room, but I ... I just could not go back. The fire was already so huge."

The gutted cars in the garage included a Kijang van, a blue Volvo and a Cherokee jeep.

Mahmuri, a security guard at the Simanjuntak home, said the Opel Blazer and Kijang van in the garage were untouched by the fire.

"Even the rain could not put out the fire ... it was terrible. I'm glad the fire did not touch the Simanjuntak family. All eight were saved," Mahmuri said.

The remains of the victims were sent to the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital's morgue, where Pini identified Rini's corpse from her clothing. She also identified Pinten and Pinten's sister, Juminten, from their petite bodies and teeth. (ylt/06)