wfn.org | Indonesia: Three Killed in Orphanage Fire

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

January 20, 2002
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
http://www.stanet.ch/APD
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland

Indonesia: Three Killed in Orphanage Fire

South Minahasa, Indonesia.     Three children died
December 3 in a fire at a Seventh-day Adventist
orphanage in South Minahasa, Indonesia. The fire broke
out at midnight, destroying one of the three wooden
buildings that made up the orphanage compound.

Reinhold Kesaulya, president of the Adventist Church in
East Indonesia, says the tragedy was not connected with
the religious violence that has periodically swept
through the region in recent years. Authorities
believe the fire may have been caused by an electrical
short circuit.

The local Adventist community is keen to rebuild the
burnt house, adds Kesaulya, and is working to regain
the confidence of relatives of children at the orphanage,
as well as church members and the local community.

There are some 35,000 Adventist Church members in
the South Minahasa region worshiping in more than 200
churches and companies.