The National Police Chief Ensures That The Handling Of The Smelter Tungku Explosion Case In Morowali Is Still Ongoing

National Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo gave a speech at the Nusantara City (IKN) event, East Kalimantan (Kaltim), Thursday (21/12/2023). ANTARA/Laily Rahmawaty/aa.

JAKARTA - National Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo ensured that the entire process of handling the merger facility case in the mining or smelter industry in Morowali, Central Sulawesi, which caught fire, continued to run optimally.

"It's still going on, so we're just waiting for the results," he said after attending the KPU National Consolidation Meeting in Jakarta, reported by ANTARA, Saturday, December 30.

The National Police Chief said that to this day, the examination process carried out by the Forensic Laboratory (Labfor) of the National Police Headquarters was strengthened by cooperation with the joint detective ranks from the Regional Police and the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Police.

The National Police Chief said the investigation of the case would continue to take place to find the core cause of the incident.

"Still, (the investigation of the case) is still ongoing," he said.

Previously, President Joko Widodo asked for audits and checks of smelters to be strengthened in order to prevent fires and explosions of furnaces.

"The business in a place where there is a warm-up, there is a merger, that's what I think is the most vulnerable there. So, the audit, the checking, if possible, must be double-in, if necessary, triple-in, let it happen once, twice this happens, it doesn't happen again," said Jokowi.

Jokowi said the fire and explosion that occurred in the nickel smelter in Morowali, Central Sulawesi, was in the process of being investigated by the police.

Because according to the president, the operation of smelter facilities is a very difficult job, because smelters are facilities with large and high heat tubes.

"Saya melihats mellangka sekali, dua kali (kebakaran). Sehingga, yang namanya dalam pembangunan, dalam pembuatannya, unsur keselamanan itu benar-betul harus di nomor satukan," ujarnya.

It is known that on Sunday (24/12), an explosion occurred in a smelter belonging to PT Indonesia Tsingshan Stainless Steel in the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) area, Morowali, Central Sulawesi, which exploded, causing casualties.

Then, Thursday (28/12), the smelter belonging to PT Gunbuster Nickel Industri (GNI) in Morowali caught fire and was successfully extinguished without causing any casualties. However, based on records, the fire at the PT GNI smelter on Thursday was not the first time this had happened.