Six dead, five critical after being locked in tiny bathroom

JAKARTA: Police in Indonesia yesterday found six people dead in a tiny bathroom in a house in Pulo Mas, East Jakarta.

They are among the 11 victims that armed men had locked in the bathroom the previous day.

They included the owner of the house, two girls aged nine and 16, believed to be his daughters, and maids and drivers.

The owner was identified as Mr Dodi Triono, 59.

"All of the victims were locked inside a bathroom measuring 1.5m by 1.5m. We suspect they died of suffocation," police spokesman Argo Yuwono was quoted by Kompas as saying.

INTRUDERS

Up to four intruders broke into the house in an upmarket neighbourhood on Monday, he said.

"They were carrying firearms and machetes," Mr Argo said of the men, citing a witness account, reported Reuters.

The five survivors were in critical condition and taken to hospital, he said.

The people were piled on top of one another as though they were not human. A neighbour who saw the bathroom the victims were in

The police were informed only when a friend of the teen victim went to visit her, reported The Jakarta Post.

Mr Argo said the attack happened on Monday afternoon.

"But the crime was discovered only yesterday morning when a victim's friend went to the house," he was quoted by kompas.com as saying.

Mr Argo said the friend had been trying to contact the victim since Monday afternoon because they had made plans to go out.

She decided to check on her friend the following day.

"This morning she (went to the house) but no one answered and the door was not locked, so she entered the house and heard moaning coming from the bathroom.

"She was afraid, so she ran to the security guards," said Mr Argo.

The guards called the police, who accompanied her to check the inside of the house, reported The Jakarta Post.

"It turns out the victim was inside the bathroom, filled with 10 other people," he said.

A neighbour who saw the dead victims said the scene was "horrible".

"The people were piled on top of one another as though they were not human.

"Some were crushed and had suffocated. There was blood on the bathroom floor," Mr Lutfi, 34, was quoted by Warta Kota as saying.

He said one of the victims was not fully clothed.

"I covered her body with a rug because I couldn't find anything else," he said.

"What the criminals did was heinous. I flinched at seeing the scene."

However, the police disclosed that no valuable belongings were missing from the six murder victims.

"Preliminary information revealed he was a businessman and an architect," Jakarta Police chief M. Iriawan said as quoted by Kompas.

He said the police could not confirm whether the crime was purely murder or if there was another motive.

"We haven't been able to draw any conclusions," he said. - WIRES