Truck Snaps Power Cables, Disrupting Traffic in West Jakarta

Jakarta (ANTARA) - A PLN electricity cable was severed and left draped across Jalan Kembangan Baru in the Kembangan Utara subdistrict of Kembangan, West Jakarta, after being struck by a lorry on Monday.

As a result, traffic at the location was temporarily hampered. Road users were reluctant to pass through for fear of being electrocuted by the cable.

Even pedestrians chose to detour off the carriageway rather than walk over the cable lying across the road.

The severed cable went viral on social media after a motorcyclist recorded a video of the cable stretched across the road. The rider was worried that the broken PLN cable might emit sparks that could spread to nearby buildings.

The video showed residents gathering at a distance. On either side of the severed cable, residents had placed barriers to prevent motorcyclists from passing through in the meantime.

The Head of Operations Section (Kasiops) of the West Jakarta Fire and Rescue Sub-department (Gulkarmat), Syaiful Kahfi, confirmed in Jakarta on Monday that PLN is currently carrying out repairs.

“It is now being handled by PLN,” Syaiful said via text message to ANTARA in Jakarta on Monday.

He said that so far there have been no reports of casualties from the incident. Meanwhile, the lorry that struck the PLN cable until it snapped was nowhere to be seen near the location.