Gold miners run amok over shooting rumor

BOGOR (JP): Hundreds of illegal miners at the Pongkor gold mine in Bogor went on the rampage on Thursday, destroying some buildings and burning at least 11 vehicles belonging to the state-owned mining company PT Aneka Tambang, the owner of the mine site, an official said on Friday.

The company's corporate secretary, Dohar Siregar, said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post that the riot was triggered by a rumor that one of the miners had been shot dead by the company's security guards.

"The rumor was baseless as the miner mentioned merely suffered a minor injury," Siregar said.

He said the miners brutally attacked and burned the company's facilities at the Pongkor unit, but were pacified by police officers deployed there. No fatalities were reported during the attack, which caused huge losses, he said, adding that these losses were still being counted.

The riot began at 3 p.m. when police officers and soldiers were on guard at the mine where at least four miners were killed on Nov. 28 after being buried in the collapsing shaft, witnesses said.

The officers and soldiers ordered hundreds of the illegal workers to leave the site. As their order was disobeyed, they were later involved in clashes.

One of the officers fired a warning shot to disperse the miners from crowding the scene, but unfortunately the bullet hit the ear of one of the miners, identified as Ahmad, a resident of a nearby Leuwi Sadeng village.

Upon seeing their friend was injured, the miners then went to the company office and started to damage the facilities.

Bogor Regional Police Chief Col. Hari Setyabudhi said on Friday that police were still searching for the miners who attacked and burned the facilities.

"We have identified the culprits in the riot," Hari said, adding that police had not yet made any arrest.

On Nov. 28 the four illegal miners were killed and a soldier was severely injured when the shaft at the Pongkor mine caved in.

No rain was reported during the accident, and it was believed that the cave-in was caused by the collapse of the shaft's support poles that had been erected by the illegal miners.

On Oct. 18, last year, five illegal workers were killed when heavy rainfall caused a mine tunnel to collapse.

Six other illegal workers were killed when a huge tree collapsed on them at the mine on July 21 of this year.

Aneka Tambang has often called for the illegal workers to stop their mining activities, but the calls have been ignored.

The company had invested Rp 100 billion (US$13 million) in the mine which started operation on the 4,058-hectare site in 1993. (24/jun)