Two killed in blast

KENDAL, Central Java: Two employees at textile giant PT Texmaco Perkasa Engineering's factory in Kaliwungu district were killed on Saturday when an air conditioner compressor they were repairing exploded.

Dulkijab, 38, and Waliyono, 27, both factory technicians, died instantly. The blast threw their bodies 15 meters.

Another employee, Rawuh Riyanto, 40, who was standing nearby, was injured and is now being treated at Telogorejo Hospital in the provincial capital of Semarang, some 20 kilometers east of here.

Local police chief Col. Andi Masmiyat told The Jakarta Post that human error was the cause of the blast.

"There were technical and procedural flaws in the way the technicians were fixing the compressor," he said.

He added that although he believed that foul play was not suspected, police would question Rawuh and the company's manager.(har/01)