A service worker died after a septic tank exploded on Monday in Jatinegara, East Jakarta.

Cakung Police chief Comr. Pandji Santoso explained that a homeowner called septic tank service workers on Monday at around 11 a.m.

When one of the workers, a 44-year-old male, finished emptying out the chamber, he burned a piece of newspaper and put it into the septic tank to convince the homeowner that he had done his job.

“The septic tank pumper burned newspaper. He put the burnt newspaper into the septic tank,” Pandji said on Tuesday, kompas.com reported.

Convinced that the tank had been emptied out, the homeowner gave the worker money for his service.

However, minutes later, the tank exploded, causing its lid to pop and the worker to fall inside it.

“The pumper fell into the septic tank and passed away,” Pandji said.

The head of community unit (RW) 03 in Jatinegara, Ahmad Kana Firdaus, confirmed that the worker burned the newspaper to check whether the septic tank had been completely emptied.

The house’s CCTV shows the incident took place about two minutes after the burnt newspaper was put into the septic tank.

According to a biogas researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Aep Saepudin, an explosion was likely as the waste contained in the tank had undergone a biological process carried out by microorganisms. As a result of the process, various gases, including inflammable methane , were produced.

The victim’s body was immediately taken to Harapan Jayakarta Hospital in East Jakarta.

The homeowner reportedly suffered a wound in his waist. (sau)