Witnesses give grim accounts of JSX blast

JAKARTA (JP): Employees from some of the companies located in the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) building described the harrowing moments following the powerful explosion that rocked the building on Wednesday afternoon.

The jolt, they recalled, was felt by those on the 20th floor of the 34-story building.

Sudrajat, a deliveryman for a securities firm, said he was inside the building at the time of the explosion. "I was up on the 20th floor when the explosion happened. It sounded like a huge boom. Everybody on the floor ran to escape; fortunately no one was trampled."

A man who was working on the sixth floor at the time of the explosion said the blast rocked the floor.

"It was like the floor was lifted up quickly and then smashed back down. Everything was scattered on the floor," the man, who asked not to be named, said.

Bambang Suherman, a driver for the Maxus oil company who was injured in the blast, shared his personal nightmare with journalists. "I was sitting in an office in the P2 underground parking lot when suddenly I heard a very loud blast that shattered all the windows.

"Everybody was screaming and trying to get out of the building," he said a few minutes after he succeeded in reaching the street.

"I found out later that my temple had been cut by some pieces of the shattered glass," Suherman said while holding his head to try and stanch the bleeding.

A dealer at a foreign brokerage firm said all of the dealers were evacuated from the trading floor of the stock exchange.

Thick black smoke was seen coming from the building after the explosion, causing drivers passing along the street in front of the building to slow their vehicles. Thousands of pedestrians crowded in front of the building to try and get a glimpse of what was happening.

Debris from the lobby's ceiling littered the lobby floor, three floors above the P2 parking level where the blast occurred.

Fifteen minutes after the explosion, fire squads began to arrive at the building. However, they were unable to enter the underground parking lot because of the smoke.

Shortly after news of the blast was broadcast by radio and television stations, scores of people rushed to the building to locate friends and family members.

Many of them asked reporters for help in finding their loved ones. "Do you have the names of the victims? I am looking for my brother. He is a driver here," a man said.

After being told the victims were being taken to Pertamina Hospital in South Jakarta, the man rushed to the hospital.

Dozens of victims, mostly drivers and security guards who were in the P2 parking lot when the bomb went off, were treated at the hospital.

Most of them were cut by broken glass or hit by flying debris, a doctor in the hospital's emergency room, Chafied Varuna, said.

Among the wounded was Tugiman, 48, from Ragunan in South Jakarta. The doctor said Tugiman was suffering from temporary amnesia which was likely the result of the shock of the blast.

Tugiman also was suffering from impaired hearing and cuts to his head. After taking an X-ray, doctors also found metal fragments in Tugiman's chest.

Similar fragments also were found in another victim, Ahmad Mulyadi, 43.

Twenty-year-old Saludin, a resident of Perdatam in South Jakarta, suffered wounds to his right eye and around his mouth from broken glass.

Rusli, 19, who was released shortly after being admitted to the hospital, said he was installing ceramic tiles on the P2 parking level when the explosion occurred.

"The parking lot was full of smoke and it was hard to find a way out," said Rusli, who had several wounds on his arms.

Susilo Wati, the spokeswoman for Pertamina Hospital, said about 17 victims had been released after being treated.

One victim, Ronni, 25, said he was in a waiting room for drivers on the P2 parking level when the explosion occurred.

"Everyone panicked. Some were injured and bleeding," Ronni said.

"For a few seconds everything went black. I realized later that my face was bleeding," Kardiman, 48, who works for an offshore oil company located in the building, said.(jaw/07)