Mine company in Papua welcomes inspectors

Transcript

The Indonesian government will review all mining operations and has demanded the closure of the Grasberg Mine in Papua as the last of 28 dead workers was pulled from the rubble of a trapped underground tunnel on Tuesday night.

The massive mine's owner, Freeport McMoRan, is holding memorial services in Jakarta and Papua and has vowed to ensure the tragedy doesn't happen again.

An independent investigation will look for causes of the tunnel collapse which trapped 38 workers last week during a safety training briefing.

Alex Perrottet reports:

200 rescue workers were involved in the effort to pull bodies from the narrow tunnel that had partially caved in. As their trapped colleagues cried out from the other side, they worked around the clock, but could only bring 10 of the 38 out alive. The tragedy is one of the worst mining disasters in Indonesia and compares to 31 deaths from a coal-mine blast in West Sumatra in 2009. Freeport McMoRan have called it a 'grim chapter'. A spokesperson, Daisy Primayanti, told Alex Perrottet the rescue work didn't get any easier as time went on.

DAISY PRIMAYANTI: The mentality was really a mentality of not giving up at all. So last night it was pretty challenging to get the last victim out of the rubble. It took quite a long long time to be able to evacuate the body out of the rubble.

Five of the ten survivors have been flown to Jakarta for more intense hospital treatment. Meanwhile, Daisy Primayanti says the mine will remain shut until authorities are happy, with the company estimated to lose $1.8 million a day. She says Freeport is now focused on caring for the victims' families.

DAISY PRIMAYANTI: I think the whole Freeport community is in grief. It is a tragic event and everybody is saddened by this incident.

Victor Mambor, a journalist with Tabloid Jubi based in Jayapura, says he spoke to the family of one of the victims, Joni Tulak, who lives in Sulawesi. He says they were shocked and are demanding compensation from Freeport McMoRan.

VICTOR MAMBOR: I made contact with one of the victim's families and they said to me that they will ask Freeport for interest, the company will be made to pay something for that.

Victor Mambor says the Koalisi Rakyat Indonesia - or Indonesian People's Coalition - based in Jakarta, is considering mounting a court action over the disaster, pending the results of the investigation by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry. He says he spoke with a member of the Indonesian parliament who travelled to the mine site, along with Indonesian journalists who were later denied access by local chiefs.

VICTOR MAMBOR: Journalists were denied in there but not from Freeport. Journalists were denied into the location by the chiefs of the tribes, the seven chiefs of the tribes there.

Victor Mambor says the local chiefs who denied journalists access accused them of writing lies in their reports on Papua.