Ministry of Industry Sends Wasdal Team to Investigate Herbal Factory Explosion in Semarang

Minister of Industry (Menperin) Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) is moving quickly to respond to the explosion and fire incidents that occurred at the production facility of PT Raw Botanical Nusantara, an herbal processing company (herb infusion) located in the Candi Industrial Estate, Semarang, Central Java.

The incident, which occurred on Wednesday, July 1, at around 09.30 WIB, was immediately followed up through coordination with the company and related agencies.

Minister of Industry (Menperin) Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita expressed deep concern over the disaster, especially the loss of life and injuries.

The Ministry of Industry ensures that work safety is the main priority that cannot be negotiated in industrial operations.

"We express our deepest condolences and condolences to the families of the deceased victims and pray for the workers who were injured to recover soon. This incident is a loud alarm for the industrial sector to continue to tighten the implementation of Occupational Safety and Health (K3) standards, especially in the use of industrial machines with high risk or pressure," said Agus quoted from a written statement, Friday, July 3.

Following up on the incident, Agus has instructed the Acting Director General of Agro Industry to immediately deploy the Surveillance and Control Team (Wasdal) to the scene.

This step was taken to conduct field verification, collect comprehensive information, and coordinate with law enforcement, local governments, and companies in the investigation process.

Based on the initial chronology report, indications of overheating in the high-pressure production engine began to be seen at 09.30 WIB, which was then followed by the explosion of the sterilization tube in the production room at the back around 09.45 to 09.56 WIB.

The explosion triggered a fire and collapsed part of the building's structure before it was finally extinguished by firefighters at 12.00 WIB.

The incident resulted in the death of one worker on behalf of Muhammad Bryan Febryantoro, a resident of Mranggen, Demak, and seven other workers were lightly to moderately burned.

All the victims have been evacuated and received medical treatment at the Regional General Hospital (RSUD) dr. Adhyatma, MPH.

Meanwhile, the Acting Director General of Agro Industry of the Ministry of Industry, Putu Juli Ardika, said that the initial cause of the explosion was a failure in the sterilization tube due to a surge in temperature and pressure that exceeded the design limit of the device's ability.

Currently, all production activities at the factory have been temporarily stopped to support the investigation process.

Putu said, currently the company together with the Forensic Identification Team (Inafis) of the Semarang Police are conducting crime scene investigation and deepening to find out the exact cause of the accident, including checking whether there are elements of negligence.

"We at the Directorate General of Agro Industry have also coordinated with the Head of the Central Standard and Industrial Pollution Prevention Service (BBSPJPPI) in Semarang to continue to monitor the handling of this incident," he said.

The Ministry of Industry emphasized that it would continue to monitor the development of the investigation intensively and coordinate with related agencies. The Ministry of Industry also appealed to all industrial manufacturing business actors in Indonesia to conduct periodic checks and calibration of production machine facilities to prevent incidents.