Smelter blast injures 13, damages 63 home
Smelter blast injures 13, damages 63 home
Indra Harsaputra, The Jakarta Post, Sidoarjo, East Java
At least 13 people were injured, two of them seriously, when a
strong explosion rocked a metal smelter in Sidoarjo industrial
area, East Java, on Wednesday.
The explosion took place at about 5:45 a.m. and sparked a fire
that swept through metal smelter PT Ispatindo in Sidoarjo
District.
All the injured victims are rushed to the Siti Khotijah Taman
Sepanjang Hospital and all medical fees were covered by the
company.
Lubena, a staff member at the hospital, said that all the
injured victims who were treated were employees of the factory.
Sidoarjo Police Precinct chief Sr. Comr. Ronny Sompy said that
the strong explosion was allegedly sparked by the collapse of the
factory's main furnace.
"We still don't know exactly the cause of the furnace's
collapse; the investigation is still underway," he said, adding
the police are still questioning 10 employees who were on duty at
the time of the blast.
Locals living near the factory, blamed the local
administration and the factory's poor management for the
explosion for not taking steps to prevent such incidents from
happening.
They said that residents had complained about noise and
environmental pollution caused by the factory both to the
management and the local administration but their complaints were
not heeded.
"It is the second incident after a minor explosion happened
months ago. Besides the explosion, the factory has also polluted
wells and the air and makes an intolerable level of noise almost
every day. This means that the management has ignored local
residents' complaints and the local administration did not
monitor the factory's operation," said Abdul Rohkim, chief of a
neighborhood in Kedung Sari village located near the factory.
He cited that the management had paid only Rp 25,000 per
family in compensation for the environmental pollution.
Rohkim said that residents have demanded that the factory
repair the houses damaged in the explosion and that they planned
to file a lawsuit against the factory over the explosion and the
environmental pollution.
He added that the explosion damaged 63 houses and two cars
belonging to residents.
The incident occurred only two months after the explosion that
rocked chemical factory PT Petrowidada, in Gresik industrial zone
in the middle of January. The fire that caused a strong explosion
is the largest recorded to have hit a chemical factory in
Indonesia. Three employees were killed and fifty-eight survivors
of the fire received treatment in hospitals, many with severe
chemical burns.
PT Petrowidada, which produces the raw plastic materials
phthalic anhydride (PA) and maleic anhydride (MA), is a
subsidiary of petrochemical company PT Petrokimia, one of
Indonesia's biggest petrochemical groups.
PT Ispatindo's personnel manager Dedy Kurniawan expressed
regret over the incident, saying that the company was still
calculating the material losses.
"We have decided to give compensation to the locals affected
by the explosion and to cover the medication costs of the injured
victims," he said.
He said further that the management has also decided to
suspend operations for three weeks until all damaged facilities
were repaired.
The factory produces 80 tons of steel per month.