Ramayana manager may be suspect in Bogor fire
Ramayana manager may be suspect in Bogor fire
BOGOR, West Java (JP): The regional manager of Ramayana Department Store here, who is being questioned together with 38 other people, may be the responsible party in last Thursday's fire at the Kebon Kembang market, police say.
"He can be charged as a suspect," Bogor regional police chief Col. Dadang Garnida, told reporters here yesterday.
The officer was referring to Iman Pranoto, who was assigned to supervise three Ramayana outlets here, including the one ravaged by fire in Kebon Kembang market, where ten people were killed.
Officer Dadang, however, refused to go into detail, saying that the final conclusions of the police investigation will be provided to the press today.
Imam claimed that the store manager, Eko Supriyadi was actually responsible for the accident.
From Ramayana's perspective "it's not me but the store manager, Eko Supriyadi, who was responsible party for the recent fire," said Imam, who came across reporters prior to his questioning by Bogor detectives yesterday.
According to Imam, Eko, who is also being questioned, was the supervisor of all units at the Ramayana outlet hit by fire.
Iman also said that Eko was at the scene supervising the employees working when the fire broke out.
"Whoever the suspects could be, we'll appoint lawyers for them if they become suspects," Iqbal, store manager of operations at Jakarta-based PT Ramayana Lestari Sentosa, told The Jakarta Post yesterday.
Officer Dadang refused to reveal the identities of the 38 people being questioned by the Bogor police detectives.
"What I can say is that the suspects will be from these 39 people," he said.
Dadang also said that the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Victims
According to Bogor Mayor Eddy Gunardi, ten people were killed in the fire, while media reports previously said at least 76.
The ten victims were all women employees of Ramayana's. The fire also caused billions of rupiah in losses.
The discrepancy in the number of victims apparently happened because the local authorities refused to provide the correct data to the public
The media reports on the fatalities were based on the 76 plastic bags (believed to contain human bodies taken from the rubble on the third floor) sent to the Red Cross Hospital.
The reports were then denied by local authorities, saying that there were only 10 victims.
Some reporters admitted to having been too quick off the mark.
In a related development yesterday, a joint-team of 12 forensic experts from the University of Indonesia, Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital and the Bogor's Red Cross Hospital released their final work on the examinations.
The team, led by Dr. Budi Sampurna, confirmed in a written statement made available to the Post that only 10 human bodies were found in the plastic bags.
The other 66 bags contained charcoal and other material similar to the size of human bones. (bsr/04)