In Mampang Prapatan, Tiara died in a fire the day before her contract ended

Seven lives were lost due to lack of fire mitigation at business premises. Disasters that continue to recur in Jakarta.

KOMPAS/RHAMA PURNA JATI

Sri Danuningsih (46) was deeply heartbroken after her daughter, Tiara (24), became one of the seven victims who died in a fire in Mampang Prapatan District, South Jakarta, on Friday (April 19, 2024).

Sri Danuningsih (46) could only sob when she accepted the fact that her child, Tiara (24), was one of the victims in the terrible fire that destroyed a shop of Brother Frame & Gallery in Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta.

"Tiara was supposed to come home tomorrow. But in reality, she's coming home forever," said Sri, who was accompanied by three other family members, on Friday (April 19, 2024).

Sri sat down weakly in the courtyard of the building located right next to the burning shop house. Around her were dozens of paintings and calligraphy pieces that were evacuated from the burning shop.

Sri was very sorry for offering Tiara a job as a baby sitter at the shophouse. "If I had known it would be like this, I would not have allowed him to work," he said, continuing to cry.

Her sadness intensified when she saw the shop where her child worked burned to ashes. Embers from dozens of wooden frames and several calligraphies along with paintings are displayed on the ground floor of the shop. Sri didn't expect her child to become a victim of the ferocity of the "red rooster."

Sri tells the story of how Tiara was offered a job as a babysitter to replace the previous one who went home for Eid al-Fitr. In the work contract, Tiara only worked from April 8 to April 20, 2024. However, one day before her contract was supposed to end, Tiara passed away due to a tragic fire.

KOMPAS/RHAMA PURNA JATI

Firefighters struggle to extinguish the flames at the "Saudara" Frame store in Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta, on Friday (19/4/2024). Seven people died in this incident.

Apart from Tiara, there were six other victims who also lost their lives due to the accident. They are Thang Tjiman (75), Heni (39), Richie (2), Austin (8), Tiara (24), Shella, and one unidentified woman. Thang, Heni, Richie, and Austin were one family. Meanwhile, Tiara, Shella, and another victim were household assistants of Thang's family.

"It is possible that the victim could not save himself from the fire because the ground floor had already caught fire," said South Jakarta Fire and Rescue Service Officer Agus Guritno Gunawan.

Agus revealed that the condition of the shophouse was very complicated. "The front door is the only way out," he said.

Also read: Trapped in a shop, one family dies in Mampang Prapatan

It's no surprise that when a fire occurs, there's no more room for victims to escape. Even to remove the smoke from the building, the team had to break down the walls. The team took around 13 hours to ensure that there were no more burning embers.

The Head of the Southern Jakarta City Fire and Rescue Department, Syamsul Huda, stated that the preliminary suspicion is that the fire was caused by an explosion of a compressor on the ground floor of the shop. His team deployed 100 firefighters equipped with 31 fire trucks.

KOMPAS/FAKHRI FADLURROHMAN

Firefighters cool down a burning frame shop on Jalan Mampang Prapatan, Jakarta, Friday (19/4/2024).

Deputy Chief of the Criminal Investigation Unit of the South Jakarta Metropolitan Police, Commissioner Henrikus Yossi, stated that the Indonesian National Police Forensic Laboratory is currently investigating the crime scene to determine the exact cause of the fire and track the initial appearance of the flames.

From the initial examination, the suspected cause of the fire was a spark during the activity of cutting wood or wooden frames. The spark then quickly spreads to surrounding flammable materials, such as wood. There was also a compressor device there which eventually exploded.

Although the officers were able to extinguish the fire around 11:10 PM, they have not been able to evacuate the victims trapped inside the shop. By Friday morning, the situation is still not safe and there are still some hot spots. The long process of extinguishing and cooling is suspected to be due to the presence of oil-based liquids inside the shop.

Only around 06.00 did fire department officials slowly search all floors of the building. Several victims were found on the second floor. The rapidly growing fire caused 12 people inside the store to become injured and killed.

Also read: It took 13 hours to cool the embers that took seven lives in Mampang Prapatan

Cecep (60), one of the residents, stated that during the fire, not many people came to help right away. This was because the location of the shops was far from the residential areas. "Most of the buildings on both sides of the shops are empty," said the man who has lived there since birth.

Residents only arrived when the fire had already grown big. There wasn't much they could do other than wait for the fire brigade to arrive. When the fire broke out, Cecep heard a loud explosion. It could have come from the compressor inside the shop-house.

KOMPAS/FAKHRI FADLURROHMAN

Firefighters pick up calligraphy left over from a fire on Jalan Mampang Prapatan, Jakarta, Friday (19/4/2024).

Regarding this commercial building, Cecep explained that the building has been standing for 30 years. "This is a family business and it is always crowded almost every day," he said.

The owner is also known to be quite friendly and kind to the surrounding residents. "It is not uncommon for them to provide assistance in the form of food aid packages to those who are less fortunate," he said.

In the 2019-2023 period, 9,200 fires occurred in Jakarta. From this incident, 142 residents died, 463 other people were injured, and 15,636 families or 55,031 people were affected, with losses amounting to IDR 1.3 trillion. Electrical problems, such as short circuits or short circuits, were the main trigger with 5,501 incidents (Kompas, 13/4/2024).

The repeated incidents of fire should be a lesson to improve. We should prevent the sorrow of losing our loved ones due to fire from happening again. Let's stop at Sri.