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Black powder explodes in police storage
Evidence in the form of 29 kilograms of black powder exploded in storage at the Semarang Police headquarters on Thursday morning
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Evidence in the form of 29 kilograms of black powder exploded in storage at the Semarang Police headquarters on Thursday morning.
No casualties were reported in the incident, but at least 10 nearby houses suffered minor damage. The blast also disrupted the police's morning roll call.
The powder was being kept as evidence, buried under rocks behind the headquarters, after being seized last month. In the explosion, shards of the rocks flew through the air and caused the majority of damage to the houses.
Semarang Police chief Sr. Comr. Djihartono said the storage procedure used for the highly explosive evidence was wrong.
'[The powder] should have been immediately destroyed. Don't pile it up like that,' he said.
He also ordered an investigation into officials who ordered such storage procedures.
The police have made an inventory of the damage, including windows and roofs, which will be compensated.
The Semarang Police forensics laboratory team arrived at the scene to investigate immediately the incident. Semarang Police Crimes and Intelligence Unit chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Wika Hardianto said the cause of the blast was still being determined.
