Both of our colleagues were killed and burned in the car inhumanely so we strongly condemn the perpetratorsJakarta (ANTARA News) - More shooting has been reported near giant copper and gold mining company PT Freeport Indonesia in the land of Papua in the last couple of days.
The shooting incidents in which many of Freeport workers have been killed and injured continued to happen year after year and the most recent one was reported on Friday, April 8, 2011.
Police in Mimika district town of Timika reported on Friday that two Freeport workers were killed on Thursday evening in a traffic accident, believed to have something to do with a shooting incident.
Mimika district police spokesman Commissioner Mada Indra Laksanta said the police were still unable to identify the victims as their bodies were totally burned with the car they were traveling in.
"We have yet to identify the victims because their bodies were totally burned with the car they were traveling in when the accident happened," Mada said.
He added that that an autopsy would soon be carried out at Tembagapura hospital later on Friday.
He also was not sure if the accident was related to a shooting incident, but Freeport spokesman Ramdani Sirait said there was an indication that the car was shot.
"For the time being we can say it is purely an accident because we have yet to make sure if the car they were traveling in was shot by an identified party," Mada said.
But confirming the accident in which two workers of the mining company had been killed, Ramdani said there were signs of shooting on the body of ill-fated car.
"In fact, based on initial report by the police, there is an indication that the car taking the workers was shot. There are signs of shooting on the car body," Ramdani said.
Although Mimika police said the victims were hard to be identified, based on local information the fatalities were known as
Daniel Masawan and Hari Siregar who worked as the security guards of the mining company.
Meanwhile coordinator of PT Freeport Solidarity Action, Paulus Kogoya, said Daniel Mansawan and Hari Siregar had worked for the company for more than 20 years and served as chiefs of security before the accident.
Paulus strongly condemned the perpetrators who shot at car of Daniel and Hari and then burned their bodies and the car.
"Both of our colleagues were killed and burned in the car inhumanely so we strongly condemn the perpetrators," Paulus asid.
The incident followed the similar one on Wednesday when a Freeport car, driven by Abdul Simanjuntak and Agus Patah, was shot by unknown gunmen but the driver and a passenger were safe.
Ramdani said the driver Abdul Simanjuntak and his coleague Agus Patah were wounded by the car`s broken front glass when the shooting incident happened at about 2.20 pm local time along Tanggul Timur road in Timika to Nayaro village.
"Two of our contracted workers got injured by their car`s broken glass but they have received medical treatment," Ramdani said.
The incident happened outside the company`s operational area so that it did not affect the flows of logistics and transportation activities along the roads towards mining areas, he said.
"The police and our company`s internal security guards have been on the spot for investigation purpose," Sirait said.
Deputy chief of Mimika police Commissioner Mada Indra Laksanta said the shooting incident took place when the car passed Mil 37 area.
The latest shooting incident on Wednesday and Thursday was part similar ones in the previous years.
Unidentified gunmen in January 2010 also shot at two buses carrying employees of PT Freeport Indonesia in Papua, injuring seven people including one foreigner.
In the ambush on their convoy en route to the coastal city of Timika from the Grasberg mine, three policemen and four miners were wounded.
Police said US citizen named James Lockhart wounded his left eye from broken glass, and two injured policemen, were being flown to a hospital in Jakarta for treatment.
Later in July in 2010, three people were killed when unidentified gunmen ambushed a convoy of vehicles carrying mining workers.
The mine, a subsidiary of US-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc, has been a source of contention between the government and the indigenous population which complains that it benefits little from its operations.
Earlier in July 2009, Drew Grant, 29, of Melbourne, Australia, was shot dead as he traveled in a car with four other friends along a road between Tembagapura and Timika.
At the time Drew Grant had been working for the US-based mining giant Freeport McMoRan in the land of Papua,
Back in 2002, two American teachers and an Indonesian were killed when unidentified gunmen opened fire on heir car near the Freeport mine.
The Papua Free Movement, a disorganized, poorly armed separatist group, has battled Indonesian rule since the region fell under Jakarta`s control in 1962.(*)
Reporter: Otniel Tamindael
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
