Waitress' death was accident: Kopassus

JAKARTA (JP): The severe chest wound that led to the death of a woman in the Army's special force (Kopassus) headquarters Wednesday was caused by an accident, doctors and officers said yesterday.

They said they had to call a media briefing to give an official explanation because some newspapers reported the case as if the woman had been shot dead at the headquarters in Cijantung, East Jakarta.

The woman, Nurhikmah, aged 19 was a waitress at a cafeteria at the headquarters. She died in hospital shortly after she was found with a wound in the left side of her chest.

Doctors and Kopassus officers said that a postmortem examination on her body concluded that Nurhikmah died after being pierced by "a thin and sharp object."

A Kopassus officer, Capt. Sinaga, said that the accident happened when Nurhikmah slipped and hit a broken water faucet in front of the Chandraca cafeteria.

She was about to turn on an electric water pump opposite the cafeteria as ordered by the canteen manager, Wiro, when the mishap occurred at about 4:30 a.m., he said.

Nurhikmah was found lying unconscious on a concrete floor by one of her fellow waitress, Sukimah, who went to check what had happened after Nurhikmah failed to reappear after quite a while.

Nurhikmah had her chest pierced by the pointed tip of the faucet's cartridge stem. The faucet had lost its spindle, according to Sinaga.

Three officers rushed to the scene after Sukimah cried for help, he said.

Djarot, the deputy director of medical services at Pasar Rebo Hospital, East Jakarta, said Nurhikmah received proper medical treatment before she died.

"Her condition suddenly worsened when doctors took an X-ray of her body. We did our best to save her life but she died at about 6:25 a.m.," he said.

Pasar Rebo police chief, Capt. Eko Indra Heri, said that six people had been questioned concerning the case.

City Police spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang said yesterday that Nurhikmah's death was "purely accidental."

"She tripped and fell. She might have been accidentally stabbed by an object which has a sharp and thin edge," he said. (ivy/edt)