Story By: Lee Bullen, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
Video Credit: AsiaWire
This is the moment a plumber is killed and his colleague is nearly flattend by a flying metal cover after the accumulated gases in a septic tank explode and rip up through the floor beneath them.
The incident was filmed in the sub-district of Cakung in East Jakarta in south-western Indonesia and the footage was shared on YouTube where it has been viewed 175,000 times.
According to the local police, the plumbers were hired by homeowner Agus Sholeh to clean the waste in the septic tank located beneath his house.
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Reports said the plumbers used an industrial vacuum to clear the waste, and to prove that they had carried out their work successfully one of the workers lit a piece of paper and threw it into the tank.
Happy that the job was done, Sholeh went to the bank to withdraw cash to pay the workmen who waited for him to return.
Before the homeowner had returned, the septic tank exploded and ripped up half of the floor, killing one plumber and injuring the other, as seen in the footage.
Following a preliminary investigation, the local authorities believe that the torched paper triggered the blast.
Police spokesperson Tomi Sirait said: “The gas that had accumulated in the septic tank over decades was exposed to fire.”
An unnamed plumber died after falling into the hole in the ripped up floor while his colleague suffered minor injuries, according to reports.
Sirait said: “It was a workplace accident. The plumber caused it and he was the victim.”
Following the incident, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) has warned homeowners that built-up gases in septic tanks can pose a risk and to make sure they have an outlet for the gas to escape.
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