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uthorities in Medan, North Sumatra, may close the popular entertainment center M City for having unacceptably low safety standards, following Friday's tragic fire in which 20 people were killed when the nightclub was gutted.

Acting Medan mayor Rahudman Harahap said Sunday that based on an investigation by his office, the nightclub did not have stan-dard safety equipment such as emergency ladders and nozzle sprinklers.

"M City can be closed down due to the lack of standard security facilities. I'm also informed that it has no business license. The team is working on collecting the evidence," Rahudman told a press gathering at his residence.

"Because of such low standards, many visitors were trapped and killed in the incident," Rahudman said.

He added his office would look into allegations the nightclub did not even have an official business permit.

Rahudman the fire at M City would not claim many fatalities if it had a good security system.

He added apart from M City, there could be numerous entertainment centers in the provincial capital that did have the required standard security system.

"There could be other entertainment clubs which do not meet safety standard. If that's true, we will revoke their business permits," he said.

He said his administration would investigate these centers in the near future.

M City, which was previously a shopping center and later renovated into an entertainment center, is still closed to the public as the police continue to investigate the case.

The Medan police have named three people suspects following the fatal incident.

The police suspected the fire broke out when one of the suspects attempted to cut a carpet with a cigarette lighter, accidentally setting it on fire.

The suspects face a maximum penalty of five years in prison if convicted of committing a negligent act leading to death or injury, the police said.

The three suspects, known by initials S., A. H. and R., are respectively a freelance worker, a supervisor and M City's general manager.

Director of the police's investigation and crime unit Sr. Comr. Agus Andrianto said the detention of the three suspects was based on a preliminary investigation, which revealed that carelessness of the freelance worker while renovating a room had caused the fire.

On that night, he said, A. H. assigned S. to cut a carpet on the third floor of the building. S. promptly did so using a match.

"S. should have used a cutter instead, but he didn't, so the flame from the match came into contact with carpet glue containing *flammable* turpentine," he told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Agus added R. was named a suspect for failing to keep an eye on his employees.

"R. should have banned the employees from renovating at night, while there were many guests visiting," Agus said.

S., 33, admitted his carelessness.

"It never crossed in me mind that it would cause a big fire. I'm really very sorry."