IDX Building Collapse Likely Due to Failing Support Cables: Report
Jakarta. An initial analysis has found that the collapse of a mezzanine floor at the Indonesia Stock Exchange, or IDX, in Jakarta on Monday (15/01) was likely caused by failing support cables, or "slings," which anchored the floor to the rest of the structure.
A team from the Ministry of Public Works and Housing conducted a three-hour inspection of the ruins and found that no structural maintenance had been carried out on the affected part of the building.
The mezzanine floor, which was partly suspended from above by the slings, was not a later addition, but part of the original blueprint, the team said in a report seen by the Jakarta Globe on Tuesday.
Based on interviews with witnesses, closed circuit television footage and photos of the damaged structure, the team's preliminary conclusion lists as possible causes for the incident, a weakening of the slings, bolts and clamps due to corrosion; broken or loose bolts and clamps; or a failure of the steel joint that connected the floor to the rest of the building.
However, the team was not allowed to directly inspect the damaged structure and the debris up close.
"It is an unofficial, preliminary report of an analysis by staff of the Public Works Ministry," the ministry's public relations unit said in a statement on Tuesday.
At least 77 people were reportedly injured in the incident, most having suffered bone fractures.
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