Residents Wonder Why Pertamina Didn't Warn Of Pipe Leaks Before The Plumpang Depo Fire

Plumpang Fire (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Residents expressed one surprise at the Pertamina Plumpang Depot fire incident, North Jakarta, namely the absence of any warning of a kind of alarm issued by Pertamina when the fuel receipt pipe began to leak, shortly before the fire broke out.

Ferry admitted that he witnessed the seconds of the Pertamina Plumpang Depot fire on Friday, March 3 last night. Heavy rain accompanied by lightning that had fallen to Plumpang land began to subside. He was about to go to work. At around 19.30 WIB, Ferry saw thin smoke billowing in the air around Plumpang.

"Suddenly a thin smoke appeared. However, soon smoke quickly turned thick in the air. There, it started to smell like gas, the smell of fuel," Ferry told VOI, Saturday, March 4.

Residents are still confused. They don't know what happened yet. Until finally information circulated that the smell of fuel smelled was a gas leaking from the Pertamina Plumpang Depot. Instantly, residents panicked.

"When smoke started to get thick, residents began to panic because it turned out that Pertamina's pipe gas was leaking. There was a gap of about 10 minutes when smoke came out and then the first explosion occurred," said Ferry.

Ferry said that at that time all residents around Depo Plumpang panicked. They immediately tried to save themselves and their respective families. The chaos of the situation there was shrouded in trauma, given the fire incident at the same location in 2009.

From this condition, Ferry admitted that he was surprised why Pertamina did not issue sirens as an early evacuation warning to residents in settlements who were only limited to walls from their depots.

"When smoke appears, Pertamina has a special alarm. So, residents are also not confused. Residents who do not know that there is leak smoke can also prepare themselves for self-evacuation, thus preventing casualties," he explained.

For information, there was a fire at the Pertamina Plumpang Depot on Friday, March 3 at 20.11 WIB. The Pertamina gasoline pipe fire spread to a residence in Rawabadak Selatan Village, Koja District, North Jakarta.

The fire was only extinguished on Saturday, March 4 at 02.19 WIB. As a result of this incident, 16 residents died. Then, 38 people are still receiving treatment in a number of hospitals.

As of Saturday, March 4 at 21.00 WIB, there were still 357 people displaced at the North Jakarta PMI Office and RPTRA Rasella. Some of the other refugees have returned to their respective homes.

Until now, the exact cause of the pipe leak that resulted in the explosion is not yet known. The nominal loss is still calculated.