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Jakarta. Two people were killed and 11 seriously injured when a 50-kilogram Freon canister exploded at a refilling station in Koja, North Jakarta, on Tuesday.

The impact of the blast blew one of the victims apart and the other was crushed to death by a wall that collapsed. One of the injured workers was thrown several meters into the air.

“The dead were the station owner and an employee,” North Jakarta Police Chief Sr. Comr. Andap Budhi said on Tuesday.

The explosion occurred at 9.30 a.m., just after workers had unloaded the canister from a truck, which they planned to use to refill air-conditioning units.

North Jakarta Police chief of detectives Comr. Susatyo Purnomo Condro said the blast was most likely due to a faulty regulator on the pressurized container.

The explosion also damaged two motorcycles, four cars and a truck, and destroyed other nearby gas canisters.

“The workers may have been careless when handling the canisters, damaging the regulator and thus causing the blast,” Susatyo said.

Meanwhile, a string of underground explosions shocked pedestrians and passers-by on Jalan Cikini Raya in Central Jakarta but caused no injuries.

Officials say the blasts, near a gas station, likely came from a biogas buildup in an underground wastewater channel, denying earlier speculation that they were caused by a leaking gas pipe.

The blasts happened at 9.40 a.m. along a 170-meter line. The force of the blasts flung a manhole cover into the air, cracked the wall of a hotel, uprooted bushes and damaged the concrete paving at the gas station.

Wahid Sutopo, corporate secretary of state-owned gas distributor Perusahaan Gas Negara, confirmed the blasts were not caused by a gas leak from any of the companies pipes.

“Our pipe in the area is on the other side of the street,” he said.

Wahid said technicians had checked to ensure the pipe had not leaked.

“We believe it was biogas because the explosions occurred along a culvert,” he said.

“However, the fact that it was near the Pertamina gas station should also be investigated.”

The biogas may have built up from decomposing garbage in the culvert, he said.

However, waste management specialist Sri Bebassari doubted PGN’s conclusion.

“A biogas explosion would normally occur in places that used to be landfills, where the methane builds up over time,” she said.

She added the staccato nature of the blasts was not characteristic of a methane explosion.

Central Jakarta Police chief of detectives Comr. Budi Sartono said he suspected the blasts were caused by a methane buildup in an underground septic tank.

“The explosion only caused smoke and there were no flames, just the smell of gas,” he said.

Central Jakarta Police Chief Sr. Comr. Hamidin confirmed later that the explosions did not come from the gas station.

“They have automatic sensors and alarms that go off if there’s even a fuel leak, let alone a blast,” he said.

Hamidin called on the public not to light any fires anywhere in the area, which remains sealed off for an investigation.

“We’re working on the assumption that it was biogas, so we have no idea of knowing if there’s more of it just waiting to explode,” he said.