Tabanan (Antara Bali) - Fire gutted a unit of Bakrie Estate villa's block 57 at Bali Nirwara Resort of Tanah Lot, Kediri subdistrict, Tabanan district, Bali province, on Friday night.
A Russian tourist named Michael who rent the unit suspected that the fire was caused by firework rockets launched to welcome the 2011 new year's eve, a police officer said here Saturday.
Kediri subdistrict police chief, Adjunct Commissioner Kompian Srinadi said the villa was rented by Michael who was on holiday in Bali with his family members when the accident happened.
The fire sprinkling began gutting the villa's coarse-grass roof at about 10.30 PM local timer when the firework rockets had been launched to the air, he said.
Kompian Srinadi the fire could be extinguished after two units of fire trucks were sent to the villa.
The exact causes of fire remained under the police investigation despite Michael's explanation that it was caused by the fireworks, he said.
Another fire accident also destroyed a house in Dalung housing complex, Kuta Utara, but there were no reports of fatalities, he said.
The house was on fire when the owner left it for enjoying the new year's eve festival, he said.
Fires remain a serious problem in Indonesia.
Last April, fire gutted two Cangkreng hamlets, Panempan village, Kota sub-district, Pamekasan regency, in the East Java island of Madura.
As a result, a married couple sustained serious burns.
In August, fire also destroyed two houses in Beji village, Ungaran Timur sub-district, Semarang district, Central Java, and killed an 80-year-old man named Rakiman.
A witness named Samuji, 47, said the ill-fated houses belonged to Kastorejo alias Rakiman, 80, and Sinin, 50.
Another fire accident also broke out in East Kalimantan last September.
A total of 37 families in the Arjuna neighborhood of Samarinda, East Kalimantan, became homeless after fire destroyed their houses.
Then in October, a fire destroyed tens of shops under the historic Ampera bridge at Sebrang Ulu in Palembang city.(*)
