Antam Ensures Workers are Safe After the Appearance of Toxic Smoke in the Pongko Mine

BOGOR - PT Aneka Tambang (Antam) ensures that all its employees are in a safe condition following the appearance of toxic gas-level smoke in the Pongkor gold mine area, Bogor Regency, West Java.

General Manager of PT Antam Gold Mining Business Unit (UBPE) Pongkor Nilus Rahmat said that the smoke was detected at around 00.30 WIB in one of the underground work areas at level 700 which was suspected to have come from the burning of the supporting wood.

"At the time of the incident, the concentration of carbon monoxide gas or CO increased to 1,200 ppm, far above the safe threshold of 25 ppm, so we immediately evacuated all workers from the affected area," said Nilus together with the local Regional Leadership Coordination Forum (Forkopimda) when giving information at the Koramil Nanggung, Wednesday, January 14, reported by ANTARA.

He emphasized that in the incident there was not a single Antam employee who was a victim or trapped in the mine area as information circulated on social media.

"All Antam employees are in a safe condition and the company's operational activities remain under control," he said.

Nilus denied the news that there was an explosion or hundreds of people trapped in the mine hole. According to him, the information that mentions the number of 700 victims comes from a misunderstanding of the term working level in the mine.

"What is meant is the Level 700 portal, not 700 people. So, the information is wrong," he said.

He explained that the handling was carried out in accordance with safety procedures through the temporary suspension of activities in the affected area, the arrangement of the ventilation system, and the isolation of the work area until the gas levels were below the safe threshold.

Until Wednesday afternoon, he said, the CO gas level in the mine continued to decrease, although the team could not confirm the source of the smoke, because it was still waiting for the conditions to be completely safe to enter the area again.

Meanwhile, Bogor Regent Rudy Susmanto confirmed that there were no victims from PT Antam employees in the incident. He said the local government immediately went to the location to ensure the truth of the information that had caused panic in the community.

"We came directly to Nanggung District and held a meeting with Antam, the Police Chief, and the Dandim. From the results of the verification, it was confirmed that none of Antam's employees were victims," said Rudy.

Bogor Police Chief AKBP Wikha Ardilestanto confirmed that there was no explosion in the Pongkor gold mining area. According to him, what happened was the appearance of smoke on one of the mine levels which was immediately handled by Antam.

"What happened was smoke on one of the mining levels. There was no explosion and no Antam workers were victims," said Wikha.

He added that until now the team is still waiting for the condition of the gas level to allow entry to ensure the source of the smoke.