Miners still trapped, 4 fatalities confirmed
Theresia Sufa and Tony Hotland , The Jakarta Post, Bogor/Jakarta
A rescue team sent by state mining company PT Aneka Tambang (Antam) failed on Thursday to evacuate an unknown number illegal miners trapped inside the company's Mount Pongkor gold mine in Bogor regency, due to an abundance of thick, black smoke still inside the mine.
On Wednesday morning, reports said that dozens of illegal miners entered the mine and tires were set on fire inside to flush them out. Four were confirmed dead. Survivors claimed the fire was lit by Antam workers, a charge which the company denied on Thursday.
"The smoke contains carbon monoxide at a level of 153 parts per million (ppm), much higher than the tolerable level of 25 ppm," said Abdullah, a rescuer.
Four people -- three illegal miners and one Antam employee -- died on Wednesday. Six other employees had apparently collapsed but survived while four others were still missing. The number of illegal miners may be over 100.
National Police deputy spokesman Brig. Gen. Soenarko, however, said that 10 people had died.
Police and PT Antam had different figures on the number of illegal miners: The police said 200, while the company said 90.
Police are also investigating the cause of the fire.
Survivors accused Antam employees of starting the fire, but a company official, Iwan Irawan, denied the allegations and said the illegal miners had been burning logs outside the mine shaft, a practice they often did.
Antam spokesman, Poerwono Widodo, also denied that the blaze was sparked by PT Antam employees.
"It is impossible for the employees to have burned something inside the mine. We are not allowed to do that, because of the danger of smoke inhalation," he said.
Poerwono also denied some of the survivors' claim that they had bribed the company's security guards to get in, and added that they had fired 10 employees for taking bribes in the last several years.
The evacuation of the remaining miners is expected to resume within two days.