Indonesian teen credits ‘hand of God’ for saving her in fire

TANGERANG, Indonesia — The explosion came first, shocking 17-year-old Fitriyah and sending her running for the only exit of the Indonesian fireworks factory where she started work just the week before.

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 14year-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-yearold 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.

WASHINGTON — The Russian government Friday accused the United States of displaying “hostility” as the Trump administration belatedly took the first steps toward imposing new sanctions to punish Moscow for interfering in the 2016 presidential election.

In early August, after considerable delay and with minimal fanfare, President Donald Trump signed into law a measure that required the new sanctions, which target individuals and firms with ties to Russian defense and intelligence agencies.

Under the law, companies that “knowingly engage in a significant transaction” with people or firms on the list could be subject to U.S. sanctions after Jan. 28.

The law gave the administration until Oct. 1 to produce a list, and the White House has been under mounting pressure from Congress to do so after it missed that deadline. Late Thursday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson authorized officials to release the list to key members of Congress.

On Friday, Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, told reporters on a conference call that the new sanctions had “echoes of hostility” in them.

“These are echoes of unfriendly signs, to be precise, even hostility against our country,” Peskov said.

The exchange provided further evidence of the deteriorated state of relations between Russia and the United States. Despite initial celebrations in Russian political circles after Trump’s election, the Kremlin has been disappointed by the lack of improvement in MoscowWashington Among the Russian companies being sanctioned is Kalashnikov, the maker of the AK-47 automatic rifle. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov blames Washington for chilly relations. ties.

Peskov pointed the finger at Washington for not doing its part, saying that while Russia was ready for better ties, Washington seemed “not so steady.”

“However, we will be patient and continue to be committed to a constructive approach,” he added.

The sanctions list, which has not been made public, covers more than two dozen Russian defense companies, including the Kalashnikov Group, the maker of the AK-47 automatic rifle.

Igor Pshenichnikov, an expert at the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, told the Russian news agency TASS that the inclusion of so many defense industry companies indicated that the U.S. was “making every possible effort to take over the global arms market.”

“It is an example of unfair and obnoxious competition,” Pshenichnikov said.

Implementing the new sanctions could present complicated issues. Turkey, a NATO ally, plans to buy an anti-aircraft defense system from Russia. Saudi Arabia has been negotiating a similar purchase. Such purchases could put both countries in violation of the new rules.

In a recent interview with CNN, Tillerson said that State and Treasury department officials were working on detailed guidance for how the new sanctions would work.

“We are being very careful,” he said, “because there are business entities that need guidance; there are important allies and partners in NATO, other parts of the world, who need specific guidance so that they do not run afoul of the sanctions act.”

In a joint statement, Sens. John McCain, RAriz., and Ben Cardin, DMd., who have been among the leaders in Congress on the sanctions issue, praised the administration for taking a first step but warned that recent cutbacks at the State Department could hamper the sanctions.