•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   

A 50-year-old woman lost her leg and an 80-year-old man suffered extensive burns when a military test rocket fired on Wednesday missed its target and crashed into a residential area.

Only fragments of the missile, developed by state arms contractor PT Pindad hit a prawn farm, not the whole craft, as the government had previously claimed.

Tiamah, 50, and Muhammad, 80, were in their house when the 122-millimeter RX 1210 rocket, launched at the Airforce facility in the Tempeh subdistrict of Lumajang, crashed into the structure. Both are receiving intensive medical treatment at the Dr. Haryoto General Hospital in Lumajang.

The government denied initial reports that the rocket had crashed into the home. “The fragments did not reach the residential area, as reported by some online media. Nobody was hurt,” Wawan Bayu, spokesman for the State Ministry of Research and Technology, said on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Wawan said the ministry only learned about the victims late at night, many hours after Wednesday’s launch.

“All the hospital expenses will be paid by the ministry and we will also fix their house. We will not run from this case, we are responsible. We are very concerned about this accident and feel deeply sorry for the couple,” Wawan told the Jakarta Globe.

“On Tuesday night, before we launched the rocket on Wednesday morning, we had gathered the locals and informed them about what we would do in the morning and what they should do in terms of security,” Wawan said. “Because of the weather conditions, it missed its target and fell on top of a resident’s home ... The wind was strong.”

“We are sorry that Tiamah lost her leg. We will discuss what went wrong with the missile in Jakarta,” said Yus Kadarusman Markis, a top official from the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (Lapan), adding that all officials had visited the victims. “We will make sure the victims receive treatment until they recover,” he said.

Senior state officials, including research and technology minister Suharna Suryapranata and representatives from the Navy, Air Force and the Defense Ministry attended Wednesday’s launch.

The rocket was a joint project of the ministry with Lapan, Pindad and several other unnamed entities.

Pindad spokesman Timbul Sitompul said separately that the company had already paid the hospital bill, but he refused to elaborate further on details of the case.