Around 80 employees of Terra Drone Indonesia were in the building at the time of the incident which coincided with lunch hour. All 22 fatalities were employees of the firm.
Fire department investigation officers inspect the site of the Terra Drone office fire in Cempaka Putih, Central Jakarta on Dec 10, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Ridhwan Siregar)
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10 Dec 2025 06:03PM
JAKARTA: It was meant to be like any other normal work day for 31-year-old Hansel when he clocked into the office on Tuesday (Dec 9).
But by lunchtime, the work day was anything but typical when he found himself on the rooftop of his office building waiting to be rescued by firemen after a blaze tore through parts of the building.
The fire, which occurred at an office building occupied by Terra Drone, ultimately claimed the lives of 22 people – all of whom were employees of the firm that provides unmanned aerial vehicle technology for various industrial sectors.
It was around lunchtime when Hansel and his colleagues were alerted to the fire.
“Someone shouted ‘fire’ and we immediately got ready to evacuate. I grabbed my laptop and things I could take,” he told CNA on Wednesday at the incident site in Central Jakarta.
Hansel recalled that black smoke had filled the seven-storey building, making it difficult to breathe. The situation was made worse as the office building had only a single exit and entry point.
“When we tried to go down, it was no longer possible, so we went up instead,” he said.
And while he managed to escape to the rooftop, some of his colleagues were not as lucky.
“As for my friends who couldn’t save themselves in time, I don’t really know. They probably panicked, and the smoke spread so fast.”
Once on the rooftop, Hansel said that smoke was coming out of the air-conditioning vents, making the situation worse.
“It was hard to breathe because of the smoke, the heat, and then it got in the eyes too, it was hot and stinging.
“Yeah, it was terrifying. That was a near-death experience. Everything happened so fast,” he said.
Hansel and his colleagues then tried to escape using a ladder they found at the rooftop.
“We helped each other to climb down using the ladder we found … it was about three metres,” he said, describing how they clung to it just moments before the firefighters arrived.
“If there hadn’t been a ladder (at the rooftop), the story would have been different … I was lucky,” he said.
Meanwhile, Wandi, a 51-year-old parking attendant, told local media that the situation deteriorated quickly as smoke filled the lower floors of the building, with employees seen rushing upstairs as escape routes below were blocked by the smoke.
“The exits were completely blocked … the fire started on the ground floor so they couldn’t escape,” he told news outlet Detik.
“It was chemical smoke … the smell was unpleasant … within 15 minutes, the fire grew,” he added.
“Everyone gathered at the rooftop waving for help, that’s how we knew people were trapped up there.”
A video showing more than a dozen employees at the rooftop, standing and clinging to the building’s edge while waving for help, had gone viral. Firefighters rescued the 19 of them using a ladder.
All 19 survived, said the authorities.
Separately, 52-year-old Dea said that she received a panicked call from her daughter on Tuesday afternoon and rushed to the scene.
“My daughter called me at around 12pm and said ‘Mom, my office exploded’ and the line immediately cut off,” she told Detik.
Dea was relieved that her daughter, who was on the third floor, survived.
According to her daughter, just seconds after smoke engulfed the building, a “loud boom” was heard, prompting her daughter to run downstairs.
“Apparently everyone on the third floor died, including my daughter’s boss,” Dea said.
BLAZE IMPACTED NEARBY RESIDENTS
Residents in the Kemayoran area were also affected. Ani, 52, said the electricity went out briefly before she heard screams from the building.
“The lights suddenly went out and people started screaming for help. ‘Help, Help.’ It was chaotic,” she told local news outlet Grid.
Central Jakarta Police Criminal Investigation Unit chief Roby Heri Saputra told reporters that the building had only one entrance and exit, and one lift.
“We found that entry and exit were only through the single front door. There was one lift, we’ve checked and thankfully there were no victims inside,” he told news outlet Liputan6.
Police have questioned six witnesses – four employees and two human resourcestaff members – and intend to also question the building owner and company management.
Investigations are focused on determining possible negligence and safety violations, local media reported, with “no criminal elements found” according to Roby.
One of the fatalities was 28-year-old Novia Nurwana who was seven months pregnant and due to give birth in January 2026, reported local media.
“She was on the fifth floor and tried to escape to the first floor, but the smoke was too thick so she returned upstairs and became trapped,” Novia’s cousin Prasetyo told reporters when met at the National Police Hospital, as quoted by news outlet Kumparan.
Novia’s husband, Ilham, who was at the hospital to submit data for the identification process was seen in tears throughout the process.
The Jakarta Provincial Government had announced that it would cover all medical expenses for the injured victims and funeral costs for the deceased.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian government plans to carry out a comprehensive review of fire-prevention procedures in buildings, especially high-rise structures, Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian said on Wednesday.
“I have been ordered to evaluate the procedures and fire-prevention measures in buildings so that incidents like this do not happen again … we want to identify grey areas in fire-prevention regulations” Tito said during a visit to the site.
In Indonesia, the construction of any buildings must go through the Building Approval (PBG) system issued by local governments. A PBG licence also requires a Certificate of Proper Function, which includes inspections by the Fire Department to assess safety features such as fire extinguishers and evacuation routes.
However, Tito noted gaps in implementation and a lack of routine inspections once buildings are operational.
The Home Affairs Ministry and the police are now reviewing regulatory and administrative processes, including the role of local governments in issuing building approvals and safety certificates, he added.
“If the regulations don’t exist, we will create them, not just for Jakarta but for all of Indonesia.”