In Indonesia’s Chinese-funded nickel smelters, lives put ‘at stake’ as safety fears mount
- A string of fatal accidents at Chinese-funded nickel smelters on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island has workers clamouring for better protections
- Labour unions say health and safety rules are routinely being flouted, as rumours swirl of cover-ups – and victims being made ‘scapegoats’
Her husband, Muhammad Taufik, 40, worked as a welder at the Chinese-funded plant housing the smelter situated in the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP).
Since news broke of a fatal blast in the early hours of December 24, she had been unable to reach him.
His life was at stake in that job … he was often called to weld buildings where there had been major damage
But Verawati’s worst fears soon came true when a relative of her husband, who also worked at IMIP, was able to recognise Taufik among the dead.
“I did not think that the worries I had every night about my husband’s safety would some day come true,” Verawati said during a phone call with This Week in Asia.
The blast had left his body charred and face burned almost beyond recognition, she said, but they were able to identify him from the shape of his chin and his teeth.
“His life was at stake in that job … he was often called to weld buildings where there had been major damage,” she said, devastated that her two children had lost their father.