Nine relatives die in Jelambar house fire

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.