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Cause of Maritime Museum inferno to be announced soon
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Firefighters clear debris at the Maritime Museum in North Jakarta following a fire on Jan. 16. (JP/Jerry Adiguna)
T
he cause of the fire that razed two buildings at the Maritime Museum complex in North Jakarta last week will be revealed soon, an official has said.
“I heard [from the investigation team] that the result will be concluded this week,” Jakarta Tourism and Culture Agency head Tinia Budiati said on Tuesday.
Tinia said her agency had formed a special investigative team that was supported by countries that had donated their collections.
“We are going to carry out a restoration, to restore the museum to its original condition,” she said, adding that the restoration process of the 17th century buildings would involve a team of architects and archeologists.
Tinia said the team was now auditing the electrical system in the museum. A short circuit is suspected as the cause of the fire. “We have allocated funds to renovate the electrical installations.”
The museum’s collection and care department head Eko Hartoyo told The Jakarta Post that on the morning of the fire, Jan. 16, he had conducted his morning routine of checking the displays.
“I thought everything was OK. We had even already received some school students as morning visitors,” he said. “Suddenly around 9 a.m., I heard the students screaming [from upstairs]. When I checked, it was already very dark [from smoke],” he said on Tuesday.
He added that he believed the fire had started from a heap of display banners that were stored in a corner of the second floor.
“Maybe the short circuit happened in the lamp above it and quickly burned the plastic banners,” he said. (gis)
