Young boy dies in burning car

JAKARTA (JP): A two-and-a-half-year-old boy died after the engine of his father's minivan exploded.

According to a relative of the victim, the boy, identified as Harry Kurniawan, might have been sleeping when the blast occurred in front of Ketilang kindergarten at the State Islamic Teaching Institute housing complex in Ciputat, Tangerang, on Friday morning.

Harry's father, M. Ichsan, 43, who used the van to transport students, was taken to Ciputat police subprecinct for questioning.

The boy's body was taken to Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital for a postmortem examination.

Iman, a family relative, told reporters at the hospital that the engine exploded and set fire to the vehicle when Ichsan tried to restart it after making a stop outside the kindergarten.

Three passengers aged between six and nine years old managed to escape the inferno, but Ichsan's son was left helpless inside the burning van.

"Harry might have been asleep at the time," said Iman, adding that the victim was the youngest of Ichsan's two sons. (ivy)