15 Jan 2018

Bomb ruled out in Jakarta ceiling collapse

9:03 pm on 15 January 2018

An mezzanine ceiling has collapsed at the Jakarta stock exchange building (IDX), with reports that at least a dozen people have been injured.

The floor collapse at the Indonesian Stock Exchange building injured at least a dozen people

The floor collapse at the Indonesian Stock Exchange building injured at least a dozen people Photo: AFP

Images on social media show pieces of ceiling and broken furniture in the lobby of the building in the Indonesian capital, amid clouds of dust.

Police cordoned off the complex as people fled the building, as the injured, including students visiting the building, were taken away by stretcher.

An employee of the World Bank in Jakarta, based in the same building, told the BBC a mezzanine walkway above the lobby had come down.

He and members of his team were among those evacuated.

Police spokesman Argo Yuwono told local media that up to 15 people had been injured.

He said some of the victims, who had injuries to their hands and feet, had been taken to nearby hospitals.

Mr Argo told Metro TV: "We are still investigating the cause, but for now our priorities are the casualties."

The building is part of a two-tower complex which 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.

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.

Megha Kapoor, who works in the building and was in the lobby at the time, said slabs of concrete started to fall and water pipes burst in the collapse.

"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.

There had been group of high school students on the level when it started collapsing, she said.

The exchange has resumed business.

-BBC/Reuters