20130626 Indonesia Four died in north Jakarta fire
Indonesia Jun 25 2013 “Building” “Stores”
Dead : dead 1 to 4 Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 0 or unknown
FOUR DIE IN NORTH JAKARTA FIRE
Updated: 2013-06-27-08:27
Four people died when a flash fire razed a three-story plastic shop in Pejagalan, Penjaringan, North
Jakarta, on Wednesday.
Penjaringan Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Afrisal said officers found the bodies inside the shop’s first-floor toilet. They were first transferred to the Cipto Mangukusumo General Hospital for autopsies and later to their family for burial.
The four were identified as Tan Aiceng, 60, her daughter-in-law Lini, 30, Lini’s son Adelin, 2, and their housemaid Parni, 35.
“We believe they tried to climb out of a first floor window, but couldn’t because the window had iron bars that prevented them from squeezing through,” Frans Silalahi, head of the North Jakarta Fire Agency, said.
He also said it was likely that the family had been blocked by the fire and thick smoke and could not get to the second floor to try to escape.
“They might have chosen the toilet on the first floor because it seemed safe,” he said.
Silalahi said the building was owned by businessman Indra Koheru, who lived there with his mother Tan Aiceng, wife Lini, son Adelin and two housemaids. Indra was in Lampung at the time of the blaze.
Silalahi said six people had been in the building at the time of the fire: Indra’s three family members, two housemaids and one shop employee.
“The male employee, along with one of the housemaids, managed to escape,” he said by telephone.
The police were still investigating the incident. There are indications that the fire was caused by a short circuit on the ground floor.
The shop employee said cardboard boxes he was carrying suddenly caught fire and the flames spread quickly because of the highly combustible plastic inside the shop. He escaped with the housemaid through a window on the second floor.
Silalahi said his team was made aware of the fire at approximately 8:15 a.m.
“We deployed 22 firefighters and the fire was put out by 11:30 p.m.,” he said. (ogi)
Other instances of metal bars blocking access/egress
Websource:The Jakarta Post
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/06/27/four-die-north-jakarta-fire.html
Date:2013-06-27
Country:Indonesia