"The equipment did not work because a plafond had been put on the ceiling of the tunnel," the agency`s chief secretary, Max Ruler, said here on Thursday.
He said they had failed to detect the collapse because their earth movement detector did not function.
"The number of the victims had also been big because of a factor of field conditions. The earth wall was thick so that rescuers could only dig a meter long inside in a day despite adequate equipment making evacuation efforts to be very slow," he said.
He said however that Basarnas did not have the authority to explain the cause of the collapse referring to the ministry of energy and mineral resources that would investigate it.
"What is clear is that immediately after the incident PT Freeport Indonesia coordinated with the agency`s chapter in Timika and carried out evacuation using personnel who were experts in underground rescue efforts led by the Search and Rescue Agency`s chapter," he said.
The Big Gossan underground training facility of US-owned PT Freeport Indonesia mine collapsed on May 14 leaving 28 workers dead and 10 injured.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2013
