Witness Describes Moments Explosion at Fatmawati Excavation Threw Two Workers
An explosion occurred at a clean water pipe excavation project on Jalan Fatmawati, South Jakarta, on Monday morning (8/6). The incident resulted in two workers being thrown into the air and immediately rushed to the hospital.
At the site around 14:30 WIB, the excavation area had been cordoned off with yellow tape, and all excavation activities were temporarily suspended. An information board at the site stated that the work involved installing clean water pipes to improve service delivery.
One of the workers on-site, Andre, described the moments leading up to the incident, which occurred around 10:00 WIB. He explained that because the concrete layer at the site was very thick, the team had to use a jackhammer. However, the machine slipped and struck a PLN (state electricity company) cable buried beneath the road.
“This is an excavation for clean water, and the PLN cable was pierced by the jackhammer. Because the concrete was very thick, the machine slipped and hit the cable,” Andre said when interviewed at the location.
According to Andre, the explosion was powerful because the struck cable was a high-voltage line, causing two of his colleagues working at the point of impact to be thrown back.
Andre suspected that the PLN cable was buried too shallowly, making it vulnerable to heavy machinery. “Usually, PLN cables are buried at a depth of 1.6 metres according to specifications. In reality, this is an old cable and it was shallow underground, perhaps due to previous road widening fill,” he added.
As a result of the incident, the two injured workers were taken to Fatmawati Hospital for medical treatment. Andre noted that both colleagues suffered facial injuries due to the burst of flames during the explosion.
The excavation project, which was planned to cover 200 metres, has been halted. Andre remarked that in his 25 years of working on excavation projects, this was the first time he had experienced such an accident.
A local resident, Markum (54), also reported hearing a very loud explosion while he was at a nearby food stall (warteg) approximately 100 metres from the site. Shortly after the blast, he witnessed the victims being transported to a nearby hospital, noting that they appeared to have burns on their faces.