A 450-Year-Old Chinese Temple Burnt

A 450-year-old Chinese Temple or locally known as Kelenteng located on Jalan Kemanangan, Petak Sembilan, Glodok Urban Village, Tamansari, West Jakarta, burnt on Monday (2/3), around 4.25 AM. There was no casualty reported in the incident. 

We managed to put out the flames half an hour later thus it did not spread out to residential

Head of Jakarta Fire Handling and Rescuing Department, Subejo said that his department got a fire report around 3.55 AM and then immediately deployed 30 fire trucks to the scene.

During the incident, the firemen had difficulties to reach the scene due to many private cars parked around the monastery. Fortunately, they could control the situation quickly. "We managed to put out the flames half an hour later thus it did not spread out to residential," he told.

Fire Burnt 30 Semi-Permanent Houses

Subejo claims the cause of the fire and its material loss is still unknown. "The cause is still being investigated so far," he stated.

Meanwhile, a Monk of Dharma Bhakti Monastery disclosed that he deeply regrets for the fire that burned his worship place. Many statues around the temple were burnt. Fortunately, another statue, Kwan Im Goddess statue which is a core temple successfully saved.

"It could be a lesson for the other monastery caretakers. If there is no worship activity anymore, the candles inside the building must be put out as fire anticipation," he uttered.