Attorney General’s office catches fire
Prisoners were safe and vital case records were not destroyed in the incident. Officials did not say what might have caused the blaze.
A FIRE engulfed the office of Indonesia’s attorney general in downtown Jakarta.
There were no immediate reports of casualties and officials did not say what might have caused the blaze, which spread quickly through the six-storey building.
Images showed firefighters dumping water on the raging blaze, which appeared to consume most of the building, with more than 100 personnel taking part in the effort, according to local media.
The fire broke out shortly after 7pm local time on Saturday. By 10pm, it had spread to the third floor.
“It started on the sixth floor,”
Hari Setiyono, a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office, told reporters.
“There are no casualties so far.” The office had been closed since public holidays started on Thursday, he added.
“There was no activity at the building when the fire struck,” Setiyono said.
Prisoners being detained at the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) complex on Jalan Sultan Hasanudin Dalam in South Jakarta were safe following, according to Attorney General Sanitiar Burhanuddin.
Vital case records were also out of harm’s way as they had not been stored in the main office, he said.
“Only the HR (human resources) office was there.
“Prisoners were held in the back, so they are all safe; prisoners and case records are safe,” Sanitiar said on Saturday night as quoted by kompas.com.
He went on to say that the prisoners had yet to be moved, but they will be relocated if the smoke reached the prison cells.
AGO spokesperson Hari Setiyono said the office of the assistant attorney general for intelligence and the human resources department had suffered most of the damage from the blaze.
He said the fire had not destroyed important data or documents.
“We have a backup for data and documents on employees.”