Fire at RI envoy’s home in Ottawa not serious: Ministry

The Foreign Ministry has dismissed a Canadian report that a fire at Indonesian Ambassador to Canada Dienne Hardianti Moehario’s official residence is estimated to have caused US$50,000 in damages.

“It was just a small incident, there was nothing serious. No one can say the damage amounts to $50,000 because it takes time for an insurance company to estimate that,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Michael Tene told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

“According to information we’ve received from our embassy in Ottawa, there is no serious damage and all of the residents are safe and sound. Yes, there were five people whose medical conditions were examined, but they’re fine.”

But Michael said he was not aware of the details as to what had caused the fire or in what room the fire was ignited.

A candle reportedly sparked a fire at Dienne’s official residence at 4:40 p.m. on Saturday (4:40 a.m. on Sunday Jakarta time).

A resident put out the fire by using a fire extinguisher before firefighters arrived.