Investigating Tangerang Prison Fire Tragedy, Police Examine 22 Witnesses With 3 Clusters

Meet the police press about the progress of handling the case of the Tangerang/ANTARA prison burning

JAKARTA - The police divided into three clusters in the examination of 22 witnesses. The examination was to explore the alleged existence of a criminal act behind the fire tragedy at the Class I Correctional Institution (Lapas) Tangerang.

"The General Crime Investigation Unit (Krimum) is backed up by the Headquarters and is currently under investigation. 22 witnesses have been examined, divided into three clusters," said Head of Public Relations of the Metro Jaya Police, Kombes Yusri Yunus, to reporters on Thursday, September 9.

For the first cluster, namely the guards on duty when the fire incident occurred. The second cluster is the inmates who are in block C2 or the fire point. Lastly, the companions of prisoners at the Class I prison in Tangerang.

"The first cluster of officers on duty at that time, the second cluster of inmates who survived, there were 73 people who survived and some were being examined," said Yusri.

"Clusters of residents accompanying the assisted residents who accompany the existing blocks. The direction is to find out information from all of them," he continued.

In the process of investigating alleged criminal acts, Yusri said, his party explored two things. First, about the possibility of negligence and the second is intentional.

"This is what we are doing in depth, Articles 187 and 188 of the Criminal Code and Article 359 of the Criminal Code regarding negligence. Is there an element of intent or not? Or is there an element of negligence in 359 of the Criminal Code," said Yusri.

The Tangerang Class I prison caught fire on Wednesday, September 8, in the early hours of the morning. As a result, 44 inmates died due to the incident.

It is suspected that the cause of the Tangerang prison fire was an electrical short circuit. But the police found a suspected criminal act and finally investigated this case through witness examination.