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Lighter factory owner locked front door to avoid tax officers: Police
Workers could not escape as the door was locked, resulting in 30 deaths including five children.
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A part of razed lighter factor in Binjai, Langkat regency, North Sumatra, on June 21, 2019. Thirty people, including five children, died in the fire. (JP/Apriadi Gunawan)
Apriadi Gunawan
The Jakarta Post/Langkat, Sumatra Utara
The North Sumatra Police have said that the owner of a lighter factory in Sambirejo village, Langkat regency, that burned down last week had locked the premises' doors to avoid tax officers and other agencies, resulting in 25 adults and five children dying as they could not escape the fire.
“The owner locked the front door to make it seem like no business activities were being conducted there to trick tax officers or related agencies because the factory did not have a operational permit,” North Sumatra Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Tatan Atmaja told the press at Bhayangkara Police Hospital on Monday.
Tatan said the factory workers usually used the back door to enter and exit the premises, so that no one saw them going to work.
Friday's fire originated at the back of the factory, leaving the front door the only way out, except that it was locked.
