Indonesian teen credits ‘hand of God’ for saving her in fire
Next came the heat from the fires and then the choking smoke, which made navigating the chaos impossible. As more explosions rang out and the flames spread, there appeared to be no escape. She could feel the skin on her hand start to peel off.
Then a co-worker appeared and told Fitriyah to follow him and to jump in a nearby pool used to wash factory equipment.
“That pool was like a hand of God,” Fitriyah, who goes by one name, said Friday from the hospital room where she was being treated for burns. “It rescued us.”
Thursday’s inferno at the factory in Tangerang, near Jakarta, killed at least 47 people, including a 14-year-old girl. It has raised questions about safety regulations and possible child labor in this poor and sprawling archipelago nation where worker rights are often treated as a lower priority than economic growth and jobs.
Most of the factory’s 103 employees were young women earning about $3 a day.
Police said Friday that they were questioning the owner of the factory but didn’t want to speculate about the cause before the investigation is completed. The government has said it will investigate allegations of underage workers at the factory.
Fitriyah was one of five workers who survived by jumping into the pool, where police and other rescuers were able to reach them after about 30 minutes. All of them are being treated in the same hospital room for burns covering from 5 to 40 percent of their bodies.
As investigators tried to piece together what happened, relatives crushed by grief went to a police hospital’s morgue in eastern Jakarta on Friday to identify loved ones. Officials said bodies were found piled at the rear of the factory and many were burned beyond recognition.
Pramujoko, head of identification at the hospital, said one victim had been identified through dental records: a 14-year-old girl who police said was known as Surnah.
Pramujoko, who uses one name, appealed to the dozens of families waiting for loved ones to be identified to provide the dental information of their missing relatives.
Some 46 injured people were taken to three hospitals. As of Friday, 28 remained hospitalized, some in critical condition. Three workers were missing.
Given that many who escaped suffered extensive burns, the death toll could still rise according to police.
Tangerang police chief Harry Kurniawan said they were “intensively questioning witnesses including the factory owner and manager.”
Survivors told authorities the fire started in a section of the factory where fireworks are dried. Witnesses heard a huge explosion about 10 a.m. Thursday, followed by smaller blasts as orange flames jumped from the building and columns of black smoke billowed across a nearby residential neighborhood.
Drone footage showed about two-thirds of the complex was burned, its roof largely collapsed. There was a smashed wall on the left side of the main entrance that rescuers had broken down to help people escape.