Nine relatives die in Jelambar house fire

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Two brothers and their families were killed in a tragic house fire in the Jelambar area of West Jakarta early on Wednesday morning.

The owner of the house in the Jelambar area of West Jakarta, businessman Tony Wijaya, 55, had packed most of his family's belongings, which were stacked on the terrace, because they were moving out.

His younger brother Antonius Wijaya and his family had just arrived at the house from Palembang, South Sumatra, at about 3 a.m. on Wednesday to move in to the two-story house.

In less than two hours after their arrival, according to neighbors, an explosion was heard and fire quickly burned down the house at about 4:30 a.m.

The residents and the fire fighters, who came later at about 6 a.m., could not easily get through their locked two-meter high gate and walls to extinguish the fire.

The bodies of Tony, his wife Mariance, 38, their two sons Kelvin, 8, and Eben, 5, and Mariance's brother Ping Ping, 27, were found on the first floor.

The bodies of Antonius, his wife Helen, and their daughters Aneke, 18, and Stefani, 12, were found on the second floor.

"They were trapped inside the house. They were probably sleeping when the fire broke out, but then they couldn't get out because of the iron bars (on the windows and their verandah)," the West Jakarta fire department spokesman Suyanto theorized.

One motorcycle and one car, which had been parked inside the garage, were burned. The neighbors managed to save another car belonging to the family, which was parked in front of the house.

The fire fighters and the police investigating the cause of the fire suspected a gas stove explosion.

"Our officers have checked the site, and they concluded that it was caused by an explosion from a stove," City Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Tjiptono told The Jakarta Post.

Relatives later went to a morgue to identify the bodies, and then took them home for burial.

"I had just left the house at 9 p.m. yesterday (Tuesday) after three days staying with Tony's family," said Valentia, a close relative of both families, trying to hold back tears.

"Their packed belongings could block their way out as they were piled up near the door," she added.

She said that Aneke, who had recently been accepted to Tarumanegara University in West Jakarta, insisted that she had to wake up early for the university's orientation for new students.

Another relative, who refused to give her name, speculated that Aneke was using the stove to boil water when it exploded.

"Antonius and his family had just come from Palembang. They were supposed to stay permanently in the house while Tony and his family were going to move to a housing complex in Kedoya, West Jakarta," she told the Post.