Ambon City Mourning, 80-year-old Mrs. Sanduan Died In A Fire In Her House

JAKARTA - Firefighters evacuate the bodies of two victims of a large fire in a densely populated residential area on Jalan Kapitan Yongker Soa Bali, Ambon City, Maluku Province, Saturday, November 13 morning.

One of the victims was an elderly woman. Another is a workshop employee. Based on data from the Ambon Fire Department at the location of the fire, the victims were identified as Sanduan (80) and Sodik (40).

The body of the elderly victim was evacuated by firefighters from a room on the first floor of the house that was engulfed in flames.

Reporting from Antara, the evacuation process was quite difficult. Firefighters had to climb a small aluminum ladder while carrying the corpse. Even though the floor and roof below had collapsed due to the fire.

A number of residents had screamed hysterically because they saw the officer almost fall while carrying down Mrs. Sanduan's body.

The family of the owner of the burning house said the victim was on the first floor and could not be rescued.

"If the victim is on the top floor, it is certainly my younger brother's mother in-laws. She is 80 years old, her name is Sanduan," said Ali Ohorella, the victim's family at the scene.

Meanwhile, the second victim named Sodik (40), an employee of a motorcycle repair shop who also caught fire. The victim's body was difficult to remove because it was squeezed in an old burning building structure.

Ali Ohorella explained that the building that caught fire was an old house belonging to his family which was divided into a private house, and part of it was rented out for a boarding house and motorbike repair shop. The entire building on a land area of about 250 square meters was burned down.

The construction of the building is referred to by local residents as a button house, made of wood and woven bamboo plastered with lime and cement. The building was earthquake-resistant but caught fire quickly.

"This house is very old, it was there before I was born," said Ali.

Based on the testimony of other residents who became eyewitnesses, the fire began to be seen at around 06.10 east Indonesia time from the motorcycle repair shop building. "The first fire was seen from the workshop, it quickly grew and spread to other buildings," said Yus Uluputi, a resident who was an eyewitness.

He said he had broken down one of the doors to help the victims in the workshop, but the smoke was too thick and the air was already very hot because the fire spread quickly through the building's ceiling.

"The smoke is thick and black from the workshop," he said.

The fire brigade deployed six units of fire engines and was only able to tame the fire at around 09.00 east Indonesia time. A number of police officers were also seen at the scene to investigate the cause of the fire.