News Focus: SHOULD SAWAHLUNTO COAL MINE BE SHUT DOWN TEMPORARILY ? By Bustanuddin.

Jakarta, June 18 (ANTARA)- The big explosion that occurred in a coal mine in Sawahlunto , West Sumatra province, on Tuesday (June 16) had killed at least 31 miners and injured several others.

The blast did not only harm workers in the mine run by CV Perdana in Ngalau Cigak, but also those who worked at the entrance of the pit due to flames and materials coming out of the pit.

The rescue team had identified the dead victims as Anton Alung, Bukit Bual, Nanduik ND, Hengki Saputra, Salman Hanadi, Cai, Ali Baba, Cau, Beni, Bute, In, Mawar, Karim, Ucuang, Haris, Samsul, Ali Ancak, Andre, Addl Putra, Roy, Puput, Nami, Pirman, Buyung Kalam, Hisap, Edi S, Napi, Har BB, Si Wid, Jon, and Canduang.

Until Wednesday (June 16) noon several workers were still trapped in a pit tens of meters under the ground following the blast.

"The blast occurred at around 10 am when some 35 people and several supervisors were in the pit," Ali Munaf, one of the survivors, said.

Some fourteen workers outside the pit were also wounded as the blast threw up flames and debris over a distance of up to 50 meters through the pit's entrance.
The rescue teams, assisted by personnel from the police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob) unit had so far evacuated more than 16 bodies while tens of other miners were still underground and feared dead.

The team of Brimob from the West Sumatra police command came with equipment to help evacuate the trapped workers.
The Brimob team had to assist the local rescue workers who knew the conditions in the pit that had many access channels.

The evacuation of the victims conducted by a joint team was reportedly still underway until Wednesday noon.

In the meantime on Wednesday, Vice President Jusuf Kalla after offering his condolences to the families of the victims of Tuesday's coal mine blast asked the mine's operators to improve work safety procedures.

"My condolences go to the families of the victims of the explosion at the coal mine in Sawalunto, West Sumatra," the vice president said in Palembang, South Sumatra on the sidelines of his visit to the province.

According to Jusuf Kalla, the coal mine in Sawahlunto lay very deep under the ground and was exposed to greater risks than other mines in the district.

"The mine's safety procedures should be improved immediately," the vice president urged.

He said the cause of the explosion was still unclear but he called for an overall evaluation of all deep mines currently in operation in the country.

Commenting on the tragedy, MS Marpaung, technical and environmental director of the mineral, coal, and geothermal directorate general at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said on Tuesday that the coal mine should be closed temporarily.

"For the time being, we will close the mine, which will be carried out by the local mining inspector," Marpaung said.

Unlike a surface mine, an underground mine needs to be better secured by better work safety requirements and conditions, MS Marpaung said adding that each underground mine should have adequate ventilation through which methane can escape.
"We suspected that the explosion may have been caused by a methane emission which often happens in coal mines," he said.

Some of the victims were immediately treated in Sawahlunto general hospital and M.Jamil hospital in Padang.
In the meantime, PT Jamsostek, the workers' social security company, is ready to provide financial assistance for the victims.

Head of the company's regional office, Mas'ud Muhammad, said in Medan, North Sumatra on Wednesday that Sawahlunto is part of West Sumatra province covered by PT Jamsostek's representative office in Solok district.

"We have instructed the head of PT Jamsostek's representative office in Solok to check whether or not the mine explosion victims are participants of a PT Jamsostek scheme. If so, we will immediately process their policies and honor their rights," he said.

"We are ready to hand the insurance money to the victims' heirs, if any of the victims are participants in a PT Jamsostek workers' insurance scheme," he said, adding that all workers should have life insurance.

Sawahlunto known as the town of mine within the area of 27,345 hectares or 273.45 Km2. The distance from Sawahlunto to Padang city (the pronvincial capital) is 95 km which can be reached by land with good condition of roads within 2 hours with a four-wheeled vehicle.

Since 1891, Sawahlunto has become the coal mine town. Although
the larger coal mines are no longer in operation, a great number of local residents still make their living by working in small-scale mining sites which have many pits.
The large part of hilly land caused them difficult to cultivate agricultural activities.

Hundreds of the coal mine workers in Ngalau Cigak, Sawahlunto had to stop their activity in the location for the time being, Kasmijan (39), one of the mine workers, said. Each workers group can dig up six tons of coal a day.

"We work only during good weather. If a working group consists of three persons, we can get about six tons a day, and we can earn some Rp55,000 per ton," he said.
Meanwhile, the provincial administration secretary Firdaus K after visiting the location of the tragedy also urged the closure of the the mining site for the time being pending a further investigation of the cause of the explosion.
He, however, had yet to talk about alternative jobs for the survivors if the coal mine was closed.