20120411 Indonesia Family of 7 killed in inferno
Apr 11 2012
Family of 7 killed in inferno
Updated: 2012-04-11-10:50
A family of seven was reportedly killed in a fire that tore through an electronic goods shop-house on Jl. Yos Sudarso, Pulo Brayan subdistrict, in Medan, on Tuesday.
Earlier, one of the victims had been reported as being a Taiwanese citizen, but the police said later that she was an Indonesian who had lived in Taiwan. The police said the woman was in Medan to attend a family gathering.
The seven victims have been identified as Thing Acu, 80, Ame, 44, Ana, 39, Julia, 39, Chelson, 11 and Chelsea and Chester, both eight years old. Their remains were brought to the Pringadi Hospital in Medan for autopsy.
The only survivor of the fire has been named as Erin, believed to be a member of staff, who is currently undergoing treatment at the Imelda Hospital in Medan.
Erin was reported to have escaped the blaze by leaping from the second floor.
The fire, which gutted the entire building, located on a main thoroughfare, is believed to have started at around 4:30 a.m. local time. Twenty fire trucks were deployed in relays to bring it under control.
An onlooker, Nurhayati, said when the blaze flared at around 5 a.m., she and a number of residents heard cries for help from within the burning shop. Nurhayati said the fire trucks had not yet arrived at the scene by that time.
Local residents were unable to get into the building to help the victims.
“Residents wanted to help the victims who were trapped inside the house but the windows were secured with iron railings so they did not know how to get in, and the fire took hold,” said Nurhayati at the scene of the tragedy on Tuesday.
Firemen were able to remove the remains of the victims at around 7:30 a.m. after the fire was extinguished.
Nurhayati said the firemen encountered difficulties in reaching the bodies of the victims who were all found on the second floor. “The firemen brought out the victims one by one. The evacuation process took about two hours,” she said.
Firemen said the bodies of the victims were found in separate locations, some were found in the family room and some in the bedrooms. Several of the bodies were burned beyond recognition.
Medan City Police chief Sr. Comr. Monang Situmorang confirmed that seven people were killed and one injured in the fire.
He said that one of the seven victims who was earlier believed to be a Taiwanese national turned out in investigation to be Indonesian.
“No foreign citizen was killed, all of them were Indonesian citizens from a single family,” Monang told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
When asked about the cause of fire, Monang said police were still investigating the case. In response to residents’ statements saying they heard an explosion coming from inside the house, Monang said it was most likely caused by an electrical short-circuit.
“The explosion was probably due to a short-circuit in the electronics shop, but we are still investigating the cause,” he said.
Jakarta Post
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/04/11/family-7-killed-inferno.html