Mustaqim Adamrah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo has ordered an investigation into the fire that destroyed a compressed natural gas-powered TransJakarta bus on Friday.
"I asked the city police chief to thoroughly investigate the cause of the incident," the governor said at City Hall.
According to the Jakarta Police's Traffic Management Center, the bus caught fire around 8:30 a.m. near the Tugu Tani (Farmer's Monument) in Central Jakarta.
No injuries were reported in the incident.
Officials initially said the fire started because of a short circuit in the bus engine.
The bus, owned by PT Trans Batavia, was traveling on Corridor 2 of the busway system from Harmoni in Central Jakarta to Pulo Gadung in East Jakarta, while carrying dozens of passengers.
Trans Batavia provides 55 buses fueled by compressed natural gas (CNG) to serve the corridor.
Passengers later reported smelling gas inside the bus in Harmoni, Detik.com reported.
They said the odor disappeared, but returned when they arrived at the traffic lights near the monument, where the fire started.
Quoting the police's preliminary investigation, Fauzi said the fire was likely started by a short circuit in the bus' dashboard, "not a CNG leak as previously alleged".
"So, I call on residents to ignore this. They should not panic over the incident," he said.
Busway operator TransJakarta's head of operations, Rene Nunumete, also said a short circuit was the cause of the blaze.
Fauzi said he ordered TransJakarta and the city transportation agency to perform safety checks on all the busway vehicles.
"I want them to obtain a certificate for each of the busway buses that guarantees the buses are safe and roadworthy."
He said TransJakarta and the transportation agency would have to cooperate with a surveyor agency, like state-owned PT Sucofindo, to obtain the certificates.
"In the meantime, the busway will remain operational to maintain public services," he said.
A similar incident occurred last May, involving a CNG-fueled TransJakarta bus being repaired at a busway pool in Pulo Gadung. That incident left four people with serious injuries.
Nurmansjah Lubis, the secretary of City Council Commission B for economic affairs, blamed the poor management of TransJakarta for the fire.
"This incident proves that TransJakarta is careless when it comes to safety. It does not carry out maximum supervision," he said.
"TransJakarta could have avoided this incident if it carried out periodic safety checks," he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment