Two Groups Of Residents In Sorong Clash, 11 People Burnt To Death

Clashes in Sorong/Photo: Antara

SORONG - Clashes between two groups of residents in Sorong City, West Papua Province, early Tuesday morning resulted in the death of dozens of people, two cars, and a karaoke place on fire.

Quoted Between Tuesday, January 25, one person died as a result of being stabbed and dozens of people were trapped in a karaoke place that was set alight by the fighting mob.

Based on information from karaoke employees there were dozens of people trapped in Karaoke Double0 at the time of the incident but the exact number is not yet known.

One stabbing victim has been evacuated to the hospital. Meanwhile, dozens of victims trapped in karaoke rooms are being handled by the police.

The location of the incident was on Sungai Maruni Street, Sorong city, at 07.29 eastern Indonesia time, two hearses were seen on standby to vaccinate the bodies.

It was also observed that the Sorong City fire brigade team had extinguished the fire and increased the location of the incident. Meanwhile, dozens of police officers are still on guard at the scene.

Traffic flow on Sungai Maruni Street returned to normal but only one lane was opened because there was still debris from vehicles that were burned by the masses still scattered on the road.

Based on provisional information from the police, there were at least 12 fatalities in the incident.

Sorong City Police Chief Grand Commissioner Adjutant Ary Nyoto Setiawan confirmed the clashes which resulted in the death of dozens of people.

Ary explained that the temporary data contained 12 fatalities in the incident. One person died as a result of being stabbed and 11 people were trapped in a karaoke Doubel0 which was set on fire by the mob.

"Initially we thought that everyone in the Double0 karaoke had been evacuated because at the time of the incident the police were helping to evacuate the people inside the karaoke. However, when the firefighters extinguished the fire, 11 bodies were found in the karaoke room," he said.

"We don't know for sure the number of victims who died because further checks are still being carried out, but temporarily 11 firefighters were found in a karaoke room in one room and one victim of a stabbing died who had been evacuated," he said.

The police chief added that the dispute occurred because of a misunderstanding between two groups of residents from Maluku, which started at the Double0 karaoke place for two days, which had been attempted for peace but continued until the early hours of the morning.