The Jakarta Post, Semarang, Thursday July 18 2013
Babadan traditional market in Semarang regency, Central Java, caught fire on Wednesday evening, burning down 191 kiosks and 720 stalls. The fire was extinguished early on Thursday.
Around 1,500 vendors lost their goods and stalls in the marketplace fire as it destroyed almost 90 percent of the market building. There were no casualties reported in the incident. The financial losses have yet to be confirmed.
The fire caused 3-kilometer long gridlock along the Semarang-Solo and Semarang-Yogyakarta roads.
Semarang Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Agustinus Berlianto Pangaribuan said according to several witnesses, the fire was caused by a short-circuit that allegedly occurred in a grocery kiosk located in the middle of the market at around 9 p.m. local time.
Fire trucks dispatched by the Semarang regency administration, the Semarang Fire Agency, the Salatiga administration and several companies including PT Coca Cola, PT Apac Inti Corpora and PT Batamtex put out the fire at around 3 a.m. local time on Thursday.
The head of the market, Budi Mulyono, said the fire was spreading very quickly and engulfed other kiosks and stalls at the market.
Semarang regent Mundjirin said the administration would relocate vendors from Babadan market to a temporary place so that they could continue their business.
With the latest incident, three markets in Semarang regency – Bandarjo market, Projo Ambarawa market and Babadan market – have caught fire in Ramadhan during 2007-2013.
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do 18 jul 2013 - 20:38