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Police arrest kite flyer for causing five-hour blackout in Bali
The power outage lasted for around five hours from 4:45 p.m. local time and affected 71,121 houses and buildings in Kuta, South Denpasar and East Denpasar on Sunday.
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Illustration of a Balinese 'bebean' kite. (Shutterstock/MUHAMAD SIRAJUDIN)
T
he police have arrested a 50-year-old man whose kite reportedly broke and fell onto a substation owned by state electricity firm PLN in Pesanggaran, Denpasar , Bali, leading to a five-hour blackout in three districts on the resort island on Sunday.
The incident reportedly occurred when the man, identified as DKS, was flying a Balinese bebean (large traditional fish-shaped kite) attached to a 150-meter long string in a vacant lot near the Benoa port.
DKS, who was flying the kite with his child, later tied the kite's string to a tree before heading home. However, the string broke, causing the kite to fly away and fall onto PLN's Pesanggaran substation.
According to the police, DKS knew at that time that the kite had flown away, but he did not try to find it.
“The big kite fell on a busbar and consequently caused three transformers in the substation to short circuit,” Denpasar Police chief Sr. Comr. Jansen Avitus Panjaitan said in a statement on Monday.
Read also: Oldest kite in the world comes from Southeast Sulawesi: Museum
The power outage lasted for around five hours from 4:45 p.m. local time and affected 71,121 houses and buildings in Kuta, South Denpasar and East Denpasar on Sunday. The incident was subsequently reported to the police.
DKS admitted his wrongdoing and was charged under Article 188 of the Criminal Code for negligence endangering others, which carries a sentence of one month to five years' imprisonment.
Jansen appealed to the public to think about their location before flying kites so as not to endanger other people and public facilities.
“We are taking this measure to give a deterrent effect so that people will be more considerate in choosing the location and the length of the string they use when playing with kites," he said as quoted by kompas.com, "Flying a kite is not prohibited, but please be considerate." (aly)
