Terra Drone Boss Claims Ignorance of Cause of Fire That Killed 22 People

“Did you, after the fire incident, ascertain what caused it?” asked the prosecutor at the Central Jakarta District Court on Tuesday (5 May 2026). “Up to now, I do not know the main cause of why and how it happened,” replied Michael. Michael said he received information that the building caught fire initially from batteries. He stated that the information he obtained indicated the fire started in the inventory room. “It’s just information, an update, that I received was from the batteries, and how those batteries caused the fire, I do not know for certain,” said Michael. “However, do you, the defendant, know where the fire started?” asked the prosecutor. “Based on information from more than one person, from the first floor, the inventory room,” replied Michael. As information, the prosecution hearing for Michael Wisnu in this case will be held on Thursday (7 May). Meanwhile, the verdict is scheduled to be held on Wednesday (20 May). Michael Wisnu Wardhana is accused of being negligent in preventing, reducing, and extinguishing the fire that occurred at the PT Terra Drone office building in Central Jakarta. The fire resulted in 22 PT Terra Drone employees dying. The PT Terra Drone office building fire occurred on Tuesday (9 December 2025). The prosecutor said the building was used as a storage place for PT Terra Drone’s business items, including 6s 30,000 mAh lithium polymer drone batteries, which only had one main door without any emergency stairs. The PT Terra Drone office building consists of 7 floors, with each floor connected by access stairs and 1 lift unit, with the building dimensions approximately 16 metres long and 9 metres wide. The general construction of the building is a concrete flat roof with an iron frame rooftop, gypsum ceiling with iron frame, brick walls with iron frame, and ceramic floors. The prosecutor said that when the fire occurred, the employees had difficulty extinguishing the initial sparks because there were no APAR fire extinguishers. The fire then grew larger, resulting in 22 PT Terra Drone employees becoming victims. The prosecutor charges Michael Wisnu with violating Article 474 paragraph 3 or Article 188 of Law No. 1 of 2023 on the Criminal Code.