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Three dead in pipeline explosion
Going up in smoke: A fire rages a section of fuel pipelines belonging to state oil and gas firm PT
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span class="inline inline-center">Going up in smoke: A fire rages a section of fuel pipelines belonging to state oil and gas firm PT. Pertamina in Subang, West Java, Thursday. An investigation found that the fire might have been started by an attempt to steal fuel by way of boring the pipes, Pertamina said. Antara/Pertamina
As long queues to buy subsidized fuel continued to form across the country, a fire destroyed state oil-and-gas company Pertamina's pipeline in Subang regency, West Java on Thursday, leaving three dead and four others injured.
The blaze in Batang village, Mandalawangi, Sukasari, located on Java's northern coast highway occurred at 5:48 a.m.
'The three seem to have died together in their burning house,' Subang Police Chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Chiko Ardwiatto said in a text message on Thursday.
The police, according to Chiko, had not yet been able to discover the cause of the fire that spread for 50 meters from the pipeline with flames reaching up to 100 meters into the sky.
West Java Police spokesperson Sr. Com. Martinus Sitompul said two of the three victims were children. Both lived in the house of Syamsudin, 50, the other fatality in the incident.
The two children were identified as Ismail, 6, and Jaka, 7. The four injured victims were identified as Sri Ningsih, 47, Yadi, 15, Arul, 6, and Asim, 54.
Martinus said the fire had destroyed three houses, a coconut grove and several livestock.
Separately Milla Suciyani, Pertamina's assistant manager for external relations at the marketing operations region 3, said the blaze was brought under control at 8.55 a.m.
The company said the accident at the diesel-fuel distribution pipeline in Subang appeared to have been caused by illegal tapping.
'Based on initial examination, we found excavated soil directly beneath the leaking pipe and equipment used for illegal tapping. Therefore, it is possible that there were attempts to steal the diesel being distributed through the pipeline,' Milla said.
She added that Pertamina was awaiting the results of further investigations by the police.
The pipeline delivers diesel fuel from Balongan refinery to Jakarta. Work to repair the damaged pipeline will take around two days.
'However, the supply to Plumpang depot [in North Jakarta] won't be disrupted because it also receives fuel distributed by sea. Moreover the current stockpiles are sufficient for more than 10 days,' Milla said.
Also, Pertamina will try to maximize the use of a second line of the pipeline to distribute fuel to Jakarta. The company was currently working to help victims and ascertain losses resulting from the accident, she added.
In a separate development, PT Pertamina Region I overseeing Northern Sumatra has increased the supply of subsidized gasoline and diesel in an effort to normalize the situation at 318 gas stations in North Sumatra that have been experiencing fuel scarcities for the last week.
The company's spokesperson Fitri Erika said the increase in supply began on Tuesday night. 'This is to prevent prolonged queues of vehicles forming,' Fitri said.
- Apriadi Gunawan and Jon Afrizal also contributed to the story
