Residents Speak After Eating Chemically Contaminated Cisadane River Fish: Smells Like Diesel

Jakarta, CNN Indonesia – The Cisadane River in the greater Tangerang area became contaminated after a fire struck a pesticide factory in the South Tangerang area. As a result, numerous fish were found dead along the river, prompting the Tangerang Regency Health Agency to issue a warning for residents to temporarily refrain from consuming fish from the river. However, before the official advisory was issued, some residents had already collected and prepared fish from the river.

One of them was Roni (52), a resident of Tangerang City, who admitted to eating fish he had caught despite noticing an unusual smell.

“At first there was no advisory, so I just ate it like normal — what’s it going to taste like, right? Then there was this diesel smell. Already cooked it, and even after cooking it still smelled like diesel,” Roni said when met at the Cisadane River in Tangerang City on Friday (2/13).

Roni said he had caught several fish and cleaned them. He said the consumption ban only reached residents on Monday (2/9) at around 11:00 p.m. local time.

“The fish tasted fine, it’s just that smell. That’s what made it unpleasant — scary, really. So we stopped eating it. The advisory came from the neighborhood heads at 11 p.m., so what can you do, you just accept it. The fish were all cleaned, sir, already in tubs, already in the freezer, everything — one or two tubs’ worth all thrown out,” he said.

After the warning was issued, he chose not to consume any more fish from the Cisadane out of health concerns. “Yeah, of course people are scared. Once you get an advisory like that, if you keep eating it, you’ll end up sick,” he said.

Despite having eaten the fish, Roni said he has not experienced any significant health complaints so far. He even joked about his condition.

“Nothing, any effects like that would probably just show up in bowel movements. If you ask about dizziness — let me put it this way: ‘I’m dizzy every day just from having no money,’ that’s the answer. That’s what we say when we’re frustrated. Yeah, hopefully everything will be fine, sir,” he said.