Indonesia Stock Exchange walkway collapse: Affected tower remains closed as probe continues

[JAKARTA] The usual hustle and bustle of office workers at the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) was missing on Tuesday morning, the day after a walkway in the twin-tower building in Jakarta collapsed, injuring more than 70.

Tower 2, where the incident occurred just before lunchtime on Monday, was blocked off, with only selected representatives of tenants allowed in.

Office workers from Tower 2 who turned up for work were told that they cannot enter until further notice, although access to Tower 1, where an initial public offering event was being held, was still possible.

A business executive who gave his name as Teguh, said he has been waiting for news from the building management on whether his company will be able to resume operations.

"We still don't know if all our staff can return to work, tomorrow or this week... I guess they are still doing their safety checks," he told The Straits Times.

The 29-year-old said he was near the Starbucks cafe in the lobby of Tower 2 when the incident occured.

"I heard a loud noise and just happened to step back and was just hit by some debris," he said, recounting the incident.

"But the IDX security team was very fast and escorted us out smoothly."

The police are now investigating the collapse, which was captured by closed-circuit television cameras. Footage, which had gone viral, showed a group of students and their minders walking along the mezzanine walkway when it suddenly crashed one floor down.

University of Indonesia construction expert Yuskar Lase, in a Tempo news report on Tuesday, suggested that the remaining walkway on the mezzazine floor of the IDX which stretches to Tower 1 would also have been affected now that part of it has collapsed.

According to Mr Yuskar, reinforcements must be made to the remaining walkway immediately to prevent another collapse, "because, usually if (part of it) collapsed, other parts will also collapse too".

Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan had said on Monday after inspecting the scene that while the Bulding Worthiness Certificate of the IDX building expires on Jan 25, this did not mean there was anything wrong with the structure.

Structural engineering experts say it is too early to determine the cause of the collapse.

According to Tempo, Tower 2 of the IDX building was completed in 1997 and no other modifications were made to it.

The stock exchange held a minute silence at the start of trading on Tuesday for those injured in the incident, Reuters reported. Meanwhile, Jakarta police spokesman Argo Yuwono said out of the 77 who were injured, 61 remain in hospitals.

THE STRAITS TIMES