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Jakarta Post

Freeport car crash duo died in fire, police claim

Roadblock: Police and soldiers search motorists for weapons at Check Point 28 in Kwamki Lama, Mimika district, Papua, on Saturday

Nethy Dharma Somba (The Jakarta Post)
Jayapura
Mon, April 11, 2011

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Freeport car crash duo  died in fire, police claim

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span class="inline inline-left">Roadblock: Police and soldiers search motorists for weapons at Check Point 28 in Kwamki Lama, Mimika district, Papua, on Saturday. The security crackdown is in response to a recent surge in violence near the Freeport mining area. Antara/Spedy Paereng

The funeral for two employees of mining giant PT Freeport took place Sunday while a police report said the two died in a fire.

Daniel Mansawan was buried in Timika on Sunday while Harry Siregar’s remains were flown to Jakarta for burial. The two, who were security officials in the company, were found dead Thursday night in their burned-out car at the mile 37 marker of the Tanggul Timur road near Nayaro village.

The car itself had bullet holes, raising speculation that the men were shot dead. However, police say autopsy results proved otherwise.

“The results of the autopsy conducted by our forensics team show that the cause of death was fire,” Papua Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Wachyono wrote in a text massage to The Jakarta Post.

Although the cause of death was confirmed to have been the fire,
Wachyono said police would continue to investigate the discovery of the bullet holes in the car and a shooting incident that occurred the day before.

Abdul Simanjuntak and Agus Patah, both also Freeport employees, were fired upon on Wednesday while driving. They were not hit, but were injured by shards of glass from the windscreen.

Military authorities in the province said they were helping the police conduct sweeping raids to search for the shooter.

“We have been continuously involved in security operations,” Mimika military commander Bonni Christian Pardede was quoted as saying by Antara news agency.

He denied suggestions that the military and police were not serious about providing security for employees of Freeport or its subcontractors.

Freeport employees had staged a rally outside the Mimika legislative council building following the two incidents.

“We are serious. We never assume duties in a not-serious manner. We all want security. No one wants such incidents happening,” he said.

He said guaranteeing security for Freeport employees and Mimika residents in general was a shared
responsibility.

“There is a need for better cooperation all sides, including the company and the government, if we are realize that the company and employees are state assets,” he said.

Local leaders and councilors were also criticized by protesters, who on Saturday staged a rally for their two dead colleagues.

They said they believed the two men were killed before their car was set on fire.

“The death of Daniel and Harry was an inhumane act because they were killed and then burnt like animals,” a protester said.

“The government and the council do not seem concerned about the case while they live on royalties and employees’ taxes.”

They voiced their disappointment at the treatment they received from councilors following a rally on Friday, in which no council members met with them.

Freeport spokesman Ramdani Sirait said the company hoped the incidents would not distract employees.

“The workers’ union instructed employees to return to work and to leave the case to the authorities to investigate the security disturbances,” Ramdani said.

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