Gov't Deploys Independent Team to Investigate Freeport Tragedy
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Jumat, 24 Mei 2013 00:08 WIB
PT Freeport Indonesia rescuers gather inside a tunnel that collapsed on Tuesday morning as they continue the attempt to rescue trapped workers at Big Gossan mining area in Mimika, Papua on Sunday (19/5). AP/PT Freeport Indonesia
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The government plans to send an independent team to investigate the cause of the collapsed tunnel used as an underground training facility owned by PT Freeport Indonesia at the Big Gossan, Mimika, Papua.
"We have appointed an independent team headed by a senior professor in mining from the Bandung Institute of Technology to find out what happened there," stated Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik in Jakarta, yesterday. The incident that occurred on Tuesday last week caused 28 deaths and injured 10 others.
The independent team will investigate if the there are any signs of intentional acts of sabotage in this incident. The team was also instructed to check the facilities and the conditions of other underground mines.
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc president, Richard C. Adkerson, promised that his company would cooperate with the investigation team.