An accidental explosion on Monday, May 12, 2025, claimed the lives of thirteen people—four soldiers and nine civilians—on the Indonesian island of Java. The incident occurred during an operation to dispose of obsolete munitions, according to a statement from the Indonesian military.
The blast happened around 9:30 a.m. in the Garut district of West Java province, about 300 kilometers from Jakarta. “As the team was preparing the detonator inside a pit, a sudden explosion resulted in the deaths of 13 individuals,” said army spokesperson Wahyu Yudhayana. Two prior detonations that morning had been carried out without incident.
The site is regularly used for the neutralization of expired explosives, the military noted. This latest tragedy comes one year after a separate explosion at a military warehouse on the outskirts of Jakarta, which triggered a large fire and forced the evacuation of nearby residents—though no casualties were reported in that incident.