MCB Says Source Of Fire Doesn't Come From Inside The National Museum Building

The team evacuated collections and historical objects from Building A of the Indonesian National Museum/ Photo: Rizky Sulistio/ VOI

JAKARTA - Acting Head of the Public Service Agency for Museums and Cultural Conservation (BLU MCB), Ahmad Mahendra explained, based on information received by his party, the flames that scorched 6 rooms in Building A of the Indonesian National Museum came from behind Building A on Saturday night, September 16.

"We emphasize that this fire did not start in the building. It is known that the fire came from behind Building A of the Indonesian National Museum," Mahendra said in a statement received by VOI, Tuesday, September 19.

The initial suspicion of the fire, Mahendra said, was after a special team for handling the Indonesian National Museum unit received an initial report from the results of the police investigation process regarding the initial source of the fire.

"The fire caused several rooms in the back of Building A to be affected," said Mahendra.

Currently, the joint team is still evacuating collections and historical objects from Building A of the Indonesian National Museum. The evacuation was carried out with great care.

Previously, a fire broke out at the National Museum or Elephant Museum, Central Jakarta. The fire is said to have burned only the back of the museum.

"The one that caught fire on the back," said Head of the DKI Jakarta Fire and Rescue Service (Gulkarmat) Satriadi Gunawan to VOI, Saturday, September 16.

That way, parts of the museum that hold archaeological collections, anthropology, ethnography, geography, and the history of the Indonesian nation, do not catch fire.

Central Jakarta Metro Police Chief Kombes Komarudin said a team from the Forensic Laboratory (Labfor) was tasked with finding the origin of the hotspots.

"The Labfor team that observed the hotspots started from where," he said.