Ship Fire at Muara Baru Harbor Kills Three People

Three victims were found dead in the hull of a ship in a fire that destroyed three ships in Muara Baru.

KOMPAS/ADRYAN YOGA PARAMADWYA

The atmosphere during the process of evacuating the victims of the ship fire by the community and joint officials at Muara Baru Port, Penjaringan, North Jakarta, on Monday (5/6/2024).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Three victims were found dead in the hull of a ship in a fire accident that destroyed three ships at the Fishing Port Muara Baru, Penjaringan District, North Jakarta, Monday (6/5/2024) evening. They were trapped in the hull of the ship so the evacuation process was quite difficult.

The Head of Operations Section of North Jakarta and Thousand Islands Fire and Rescue Services, Abdul Wahid, stated on Tuesday (May 7th, 2024) that the three victims were successfully evacuated on Monday evening.

The three of them are Antonius Monas Silab (30) and Hendri (24), who work as mechanics for fish refrigeration machines. The other victim is also a crew member of the ship, Khoirul Umam Reza Fahrurozi (18).

Abdul explained that the ship fire occurred on Sunday (5/5/2024) at around 2:47 PM Western Indonesia Time. Ten minutes later, officials arrived at the scene to extinguish the fire. "When we arrived, three ships were already on fire," said Abdul.

Also read: Fish cooling machine explodes, three ships at Muara Baru port catch fire

KOMPAS/ADRYAN YOGA PARAMADWYA

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According to the examination results revealed by Abdul, the ship fire was triggered by an electrical short circuit in the fish cooling machine on KM Rezeki Melimpah. Coincidentally, at that time, the ship's crew were carrying out loading and unloading activities, which resulted in an explosion.

The fire caused by the explosion then spread to the maritime vessel KM and hit KM Rezeki Malindo. The area of the fire reached 210 square meters. Fortunately, several ships docked near the three ships had been evacuated, so the impact of the fire did not spread.

"If estimated, losses due to the fire reached IDR 3 billion," said Abdul.

At that time, 13 fleets with 60 personnel were deployed to extinguish the fire. At 3:25 PM, the fire could already be localized and then followed by the cooling phase. "The cooling process was only completed at 10:49 PM," he said.

When found, the three victims who died did not experience burn injuries. They are suspected to have run out of oxygen in the engine room due to the smoke from the fire.

However, on Monday (5/6/2024), five hotspots were detected on three of the ships. As a result, three fleets with 12 personnel were brought in to extinguish the flames. By Monday afternoon, all extinguishing processes had been completed. The process of evacuating victims began after the extinguishing process was finished.

KOMPAS/ADRYAN YOGA PARAMADWYA

Burnt wreck at Muara Baru Harbor, Penjaringan, North Jakarta, Monday (6/5/2024).

The fire is suspected to have been caused by an explosion of the fish cooling machine during the loading and unloading process. Some people managed to save themselves, while three victims were trapped in the hull of the ship. "We also know the position of the victims from a number of survivors," said Abdul.

The North Jakarta Fire and Rescue Service (Gulkarmat) Picket Officer, Eko Budhi, said that when found, the three dead victims did not suffer from burns. The three of them allegedly ran out of oxygen in the engine room due to fire smoke.

"The victim probably died from lack of oxygen because we did not find any burns," he said.

If the victim suffers burns, usually the skin will all turn black. This is not. "The victim can be identified," said Eko.

Also read:Two Fishing Boats Burned at Muara Baru Harbor

When evacuated by officials, the victim only suffered minor burns on their right arm. Parts of the victim's body were also trapped under wreckage or debris of the ship, making the evacuation process difficult.

Initially, the search for victims began with a report from the families of the victims stating that their family members went missing during a ship fire. Then, security personnel contacted the Muara Baru firefighting post to request assistance in searching for the victims inside the burning ship.

Fires at Muara Baru Port are not a first-time occurrence. On Wednesday (20/3/2024) afternoon, two ships that were docked at the port caught fire. Fortunately, there were not many ships docked at the time of the incident, thus avoiding more significant impacts from the fire.

KOMPAS/ADRYAN YOGA PARAMADWYA

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Abdul stated that his team received a report of a ship on fire around 4 PM. Responders rushed to the location with four firefighting vehicles.

"At that time, the fire grew bigger due to strong winds so we added a total of 15 units and 75 firefighters. Only two ships, quick responders, were able to localize the fire and prevent it from spreading to other ships. There were no casualties or injuries," said Abdul on Thursday (March 21, 2024).