Two die after falling from 13th floor of BI building

Two men died instantly after falling from the 13th floor of the central bank building on Jl. M.H. Thamrin, Central Jakarta, on Wednesday morning, Police said.

Sr. Comr. Edmond Elyas, the Central Jakarta Police precinct chief said that the men, identified as Abdul Rohim and Niko, were the building cleaners, who were washing the outside windows.

Witnesses said the incident occurred after the suspension device they were on broke loose and the pair fell and hit the balcony of the fourth floor of the building.

Their bodies were later taken to the morgue at Cipto Mangunkusumo hospital. Rohim's father, Entang, said that he expected the cleaning service company for which his son had worked to take full responsibility.

Similar cases occasionally happen throughout the country because most cleaning service companies do not take proper safety measures with their suspension devices, called a "gondola", which is used on many buildings.

On Feb. 1, 2001, three workers died instantly after falling from a height of 25 meters at the Mall Ciputra shopping center in West Jakarta when they were cleaning a McDonald's billboard. The deadly incident was apparently caused by faulty ropes.

The three men -- Sumarto, 33, a resident of Cibinong, West Java; S. Hartono, 33, a resident of Ciamis, West Java; and Kusnadi, 32, a resident of Tanah Tinggi in Central Jakarta -- were workers for the cleaning service company PT Multi Optimal Roda Internusa.

On Oct. 9, 1999, three workers from PT International Service System (ISS) also died after falling from the sixth floor of Gedung Tira in Jl. Rasuna Said, Setiabudi, South Jakarta.

Those three, Dian Kurniawan, 19, Nandang Indriyanto, 23, and Gunawan, 26, were killed when the gondola ropes came loose from the supporting iron poles on the top of the building.

According to the building management, after the incident Nandang and Gunawan were taken to MMC hospital nearby, while Dian was taken to Cipto Mangunkusumo hospital. But due to their serious injuries they all died. -- JP