Investigation continues as fire victims identified

Yuli Trisuwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Police have found nothing significant in their investigation of the fire that razed Perdana Wisata Hotel here on Monday, except the identity of two women who were among the casualties.

Greater Bandung Police chief Sr. Supt. Hendra Sukmana said on Tuesday the women were identified as Leni Herlina Atmaja, 37, and Uun alias Yuki, 30, both Bandung residents.

Hendra said the bodies of the two women had been claimed by their families.

He said police had found it difficult to identify the women because they were not registered as hotel guests, although they were staying in a room on the fourth floor when the fire took place.

"They were both widows with children and lived in Bandung," Hendra said.

Firefighters discovered the women already dead, most likely due to suffocation as no burns were found on their bodies. Earlier reports said the two were Korean nationals.

The other fatality was Spanish policeman Miguel Mancilla, who was on leave after his tour of duty at the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) had expired.

"We are still waiting for the Spanish Embassy to take the body of Mancilla," Hendra said.

Quoting hotel employees, Hendra said Mancilla checked in on May 5, along with four other UNTAET servicemen.

One of Mancilla's colleagues, Ahmed Helmi of Egypt, said he and other friends had knocked on the door of Mancilla's room on the fifth floor to notify him of the fire. They left the room after Mancilla gave no response.

Hendra said Mancilla's body was found dead lying outside his room, most probably due to suffocation after inhaling too much smoke.

"He could have died due to lack of oxygen before he was able to reach the emergency exit," Hendra said.

Helmi said the small group of UNTAET veterans had originally arranged a tour to seven towns and tourist destinations in the country, including Denpasar in Bali, Yogyakarta, Tanjung Puting conservation forest in South Kalimantan and Lake Toba in North Sumatra.

A team sent by the National Police Central Forensic Laboratory has so far been unable to discover the cause of the fire. Preliminary reports said a short circuit in the lighting system at a discotheque might have been the reason for the blaze.

Hendra said five hotel employees had been questioned in connection with the fire, but nobody had been named a suspect at the conclusion of Tuesday's round of questioning.

"We are still collecting evidence to verify our preliminary analysis that negligence sparked the fire," he said.

The hotel's owner, Budiman, denied allegations after the questioning that the hotel had not provided adequate firefighting equipment that was always available.

"Suddenly there was a power blackout but we could not activate the diesel fuel generator for fear of the consequences," Budiman said.

He claimed that the hotel's 300 employees had frequently staged simulated emergency evacuations such as would be necessary during a fire.

The businessman estimated the losses at billions of rupiah, not only due to fire damage. A radio station belonging to Budiman, also located in the building, was razed to the ground.

The fire began at around 4 a.m. when about 100 guests were still asleep. It took the fire brigade 12 hours to put out the fire.