INDONESIAN police are questioning the owner of a fireworks factory that exploded into a huge blaze, killing at least 47 people, and had accounted for the safety of three of 10 workers who were reported missing.
Investigators are trying to determine the cause of Thursday’s fire at the factory in Tangerang, near the capital of Jakarta, and said they did not want to speculate before the investigation is complete.
Safety laws are inconsistently enforced or even ignored in Indonesia, where workers’ 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 £2.20 a day.
“We are now intensively questioning witnesses including the factory owner and manager,” said Tangerang police chief Harry Kurniawan.
As investigators try to piece together what happened, relatives went to a police hospital’s morgue in eastern Jakarta to identify loved ones.
Officials said bodies were found piled at the rear of the factory and were burned beyond recognition.
Witnesses heard a huge explosion followed by smaller blasts. Survivor Ahmad Safri said the workers had poor working conditions, but he denied suggestions the building was locked when the fire spread, saying some ran in the wrong direction.
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