"Hopefully, the information to be obtained during the questioning will lead to the naming of other suspects, while other cases relating to this are being studied by the Kutai Kertanegara police."
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The police will on Tuesday (Jan 3) begin questioning three people who have been named suspects over the collapse of the Kartanegara bridge in Kutai Kartanegara District, East Kalimantan Province, last November 26.

"The Kutai Kartanegara police have named three suspects, namely YS, AS and MS. The first two persons will be grilled on January 3, 2012, and MS on January 4," National Police Headquaters (Polri) spokesman Inspector General Saud Usman Nasution said here Monday.

YS and AS were officials at the Kutai Kartanegara public works office, while MS was PT Bukaka`s manager of the bridge`s maintenance project, he said.

"Hopefully, the information to be obtained during the questioning will lead to the naming of other suspects, while other cases relating to this are being studied by the Kutai Kertanegara police," Saud said.

The Kartanegara bridge collapsed on November 26, 2011 and caused the death of 22 local residents, injuries to 39 and the disappearance of 14 others.

The local police have so far questioned 53 witnesses over the case.

The witnesses included four experts respectively from the University of Gadjah Mada (UGM), the Technology Institute of Sepuluh November Surabaya (ITS), the Service and Goods Procurement Development and Study Agency, and the National Agency for the Technology Study and Application.

The three suspects would be charged under articles 359 and 360 of the Criminal Code on negligence on the part of someone or a group of people that caused the death of or injury to another person or group of persons.

In their investigation, the police had met many difficulties as almost all the parties involved in the bridge`s construction and maintenance tried to absolve themselves of responsibility or to blame each other.

PT Bukaka, for instance, had insisted that when the bridge collapsed on Saturday Nov 26 it had not yet started the maintenance project and was only engaged in preparatory work. Police, however, found witnesses, including some victims of the bridge collapse, as well as photos showing maintenance work was begun on November 24.

The 720-meter-long Kartanegara bridge was built in 1995 and commissioned in 2001, Known also as Mahakam Bridge II, it connects Tenggarong city with Tenggarong Seberang in Kutai Kartanegara district.
(Uu.F001/HAJM)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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