Jakarta, Ekuatorial — Five killed and 25 injured as a tree collapsed during a group meeting at Bogor’s Botanical Gardens on Sunday (11/1). Four of the victims were killed on Sunday and the last victim, Rizki Nurmawan, died on Monday (12/1) due to head injuries. Meanwhile, seven people are still being treated at Red Cross [PMI] Hospital, in Bogor, West Java.
All victims, who are workers of PT Aslata Mandiri Agung, sat under an Amboina Pitch tree (Agathis dammara) for a meeting when suddenly the tree collapsed upon them around 10 a.m. It is suspected that the-50-year-old tree with 200 cm diameter fell because of old age as the weather was reportedly clear and no rains.
Director of Bogor Botanical Gardens Conservation Center, Didik Widyatmoko, said that they had checked and monitored conditions of trees at the garden constantly and in accordance to relevant standards. “In the future, we will conduct more monitoring and increase [quality] of these checking,” said Widyatmoko as stated by a press release.
Meanwhile, Rosniati Risna, unit head of cooperation and information at the garden was quoted by NET. that the garden usually monitored though physical appearance only without checking its internals. Risna said that they did not have device to detect trees’ internal condition. As of the accident, she said, that the garden would consider to conduct internal monitoring on old trees.
Iskandar Zulkarnain, director of Indonesian Institute of Sciences or LIPI, which oversees Bogor Botanical Gardens, delivered his condolences for victims. “This accident is a valuable lesson learned for LIPI to increase monitoring for tree collections, especially old ages, so visitors’ safety are ensured and there will be no similar accidents in the future,” said Zulkarnain.
On December, Bogor Botanical Garden had to closed for public due to bad weather fearing that it will affected visitors’ safety. The garden has as much as 15,000 trees and plants for collection in a total of 87 hectares of land.
Furthermore, Widyamoko said the garden had paid compensation for the victims and paid for the hospital. It is reported that the garden paid Rp15 million (US$1,186) for each death casualties. Fidelis E. Satriastanti.