Jakarta Stock Exchange collapse: Building's floor caves in injuring several and sparking panicked evacuation
Internal structure gives way leading to chaotic scenes as employees fight to escape shower of glass and falling debris
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Your support makes all the difference.More than 70 people have been injured after a mezzanine floor collapsed at the Indonesia Stock Exchange building in Jakarta.
Shards of glass rained down and slabs of concrete landed on people in the main lobby below, according to witnesses.
The building is part of a two-tower complex that was the target of a suicide bombing by Islamist militants in September 2000 but police ruled out a bomb as a cause of Monday’s collapse.
No deaths have been reported but a nearby hospital said it was assessing 30 injured people, including for potentially serious bone fractures. Reports suggested up to 77 people had been hurt.
Hundreds of college students were among those in the building when the collapse happened. One described it as happening “suddenly” after she felt a tremor.
Police cordoned off the complex as people fled the building, as the injured, including students visiting the building, were taken away by stretcher.
“Images aired on television and circulated on social media showed a mangled metal structure that had collapsed around a Starbucks cafe near the entrance to the lobby.
“The second floor of the building has collapsed,” said Vindy, a personal assistant to the exchange’s president director, Tito Sulistio, who was in the building at the time.
“Slabs of concrete started to fall, there was lots of dust. Water pipes had burst,” said Megha Kapoor, who works in the building and was in the lobby at the time.
“I heard a loud cracking sound. I saw a lady unconscious stuck under slab of concrete,” she said, adding that the collapsed level was just above the reception desk.
The exchange resumed trading in the afternoon, after its chief Tito Sulistio said electronic systems were “not affected”.
The collapse reportedly took place at about midday local time (5am GMT).
Additional reporting by agencies
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