Residents flee over blast from plant

Residents flee over blast from plant

ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

An explosion and fire engulfed a petrochemical plant in Gresik,
East Java on Thursday night, the second incident at the plant
this year, forcing local residents to flee in panic.

There were no reports of casualties or injuries after the
accident at PT Petro Widada, just two months after a fire
engulfed the plant on Feb. 2, killing two people and injuring
more than 50 others.

Thursday's fire took place at about 11:30 p.m. after a loud
explosion which jolted locals from their beds. Residents said the
blast sounded like a bomb.

"We immediately fled out of our homes and we saw a fire in a
chimney on the east side of the factory," Layla Sa'adah, a local
resident, said on Friday.

She said she and her neighbors were still getting over the
February explosion and fire at the plant that produces maleic
anhydride and pethalic andhydride.

"We are afraid that (this explosion) could be like what
happened before," Layla said.

On Friday, local people staged a protest against Petro Widada
over the incident, saying the plant threatened their lives.

Protest coordinator Arik S. Wartono said the explosion was
proof PT Petro Widada had resumed operations in spite of being
ordered to stay shut until it met certain conditions.

"(The plant needs) a permit from the Ministry of Industry and
Trade and an environmental audit that involves local residents.
These two conditions had not yet been met when there was a new
explosion last night," he said on Friday.

The accident caused major damage to several iron buildings
inside the plant's 20-hectare complex and burned several
motorcycles, cars and fuel tanks. Grasses and trees near the
scene had dried out from the intense heat.

Petro Widada spokesman M. Yunus said the explosion was due to
a damaged safety pipe installed in one of chimneys.

"The breaking of the safety pipe caused an explosion and
fire," he told The Jakarta Post on Friday. "But it was not
dangerous," he said.

Yunus said the accident caused thousands of U.S. dollars in
losses to his company, a subsidiary of PT Petrokimia Gresik.

The Thursday fire was the third to take place in the company
after the first accident in 1996 that killed one worker and
injured 10 others.

Petrokimia is one of Indonesia's biggest petrochemical groups
and is mostly government-owned.