Add Category
TikTok videos Nirwana Selle posted each day she worked at a nickel smelter in Indonesia went viral after her sudden death.
Often wearing a yellow helmet, the footage showed Ms Selle going about different day-to-day duties such as operating a crane or doing paperwork.
But on December 22, as the 20-year-old worked a night shift, coal dust caught fire and then exploded.
Ms Selle was found "burned to death", a company spokesperson told local media. Another worker also died in the same explosion.
The incident put a face to allegedly unsafe working conditions that are faced by 11,000 Indonesian and 1,300 foreign workers at this nickel smelter in Central Sulawesi province in Indonesia.
The PT Gunbuster Nickel Industry (PT GNI) smelter is owned by a Chinese company, Jiangsu Delong Nickel Industry, and is one of 21 nickel smelters operating in Indonesia.
The industry has boomed over the past two years as Indonesia has sought to be a "key player" in the electric vehicle industry by becoming the biggest nickel producer in the world.
Nickel is a key component of lithium-ion battery cells, which are used in most electric vehicles.
Armed with the world's largest reserves of nickel and a ban on the export of nickel ore, the country has signed more than a dozen deals with battery and electric vehicle manufacturers, while continuing to court Tesla to manufacture its products in Indonesia.
But as the country's nickel production has ramped up, so too have stories of worksite deaths and unrest at smelter sites.
PT Gunbuster and Jiangsu Delong Nickel Industry have been contacted for comment but neither responded to the ABC.
'I felt like we're being toasted inside'
Ms Selle's death devastated her former colleague, Eka, who requested to remain anonymous because she was looking for a new job.
"I'm disappointed, angry and could never accept how tragic her passing was," Eka told the ABC.
She said Ms Selle often talked about quitting her job due to safety reasons, but was not confident she would find other work.
Eka left her job at the same smelter site at the end of 2022 because she was concerned about her safety.
"Last time I was there, the crane would get stuck at times and most of the air conditioners were broken … so you could imagine how hot it could get," she said.
"Sometimes [I] felt like we were being toasted inside. Our clothes would get all wet."
Eka said management fixed the issue after receiving complaints, but failed to maintain safe conditions.
She also said the company did not provide workers with standard personal protective equipment such as masks, mining workwear and shoes, so they had to buy their own.
"They only gave us the regular mask, which didn't protect us from the dust," she said.
"Sometimes our nose could even turn black.
"I would have a cough and flu at work that would stop as soon as I returned home."
Concerns around worker safety and wages at this smelter site culminated in January, when hundreds of employees rallied at PT Gunbuster Nickel Industry, demanding better pay and safety.
The strike took a fatal turn on the fourth day, resulting in the deaths of two workers.
In a statement, the company said it was working with the authorities to investigate the violence.
"We are very sorry about the incident. The company will coordinate with authorities to conduct an investigation," the release said.
Advocacy group alleges further smelter site deaths
Indonesia's mining advocacy network JATAM said it had recorded 10 deaths of workers at the PT Gunbuster Nickel Industry site since 2020.
In a report by the network and seen by ABC, JATAM said those deaths included deaths by suffocation, falling into a hot slag, and as a result of a dump truck accident.
"The list of victim names was never exposed. It's like they are trying to cover it," JATAM coordinator Melky Nahar told the ABC.
Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources does not publish specific data on nickel smelter fatalities. However, it recorded 11 deaths out of 104 accidents across all mines in Indonesia in 2021.
In an interview with the ABC, Indonesian government occupational health and safety officer Adam Siola said six workers died last year at other smelter sites, which are part of Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) in Morowali, Central Sulawesi.
IMIP is a joint venture between two companies, the Chinese-owned Tsingshan Group and the Indonesian-owned Bintang Delapan Group, which operates at least 20 nickel smelters and employs more than 30,000 people in Indonesia.
ABC has approached IMIP and both companies for comment but has not received a response.
Mr Siola said health and safety systems in many nickel companies were not in "favour" of workers and Indonesian authorities had trouble resolving the issues.
Safety procedures are regulated by the law, but Mr Siola said the existing regulations in nickel companies were just a "formality".
He said the decision-making processes related to health and safety for Indonesian workers at nickel smelter sites were controlled by the Chinese companies that owned the sites, and the government needed to reform the system to improve safety conditions for workers.
"When [government] safety teams analyse potential hazards on the ground and a job is considered high risk, the job must be stopped temporarily while we manage the controlling aspects," he said.
"But we can't do that because we are blocked by the Chinese [company's] safety team. They said we are disrupting production while workers are at risk."
Workers allege pay discrimination
Katsaing, who only has one name, has been working for PT Gunbuster Nickel Industry for almost eight years.
Since starting in a low-level role, he has been promoted to junior supervisor. But he said he only got an extra $60 allowance per month when he was promoted.
The Morowali Regency's National Worker's Union (SPN) leader said locals and foreigners in PT GNI were paid different salaries for the same roles.
He also said foreign workers were given facilities to live in, unlike the locals.
"We think there is a very big gap," he told the ABC.
"So we consider this a very discriminative treatment."
Marwan Batubara, executive director of not-for-profit think tank Indonesian Resources Studies, told local media that the average wage for Chinese workers was around $2,000 per month, while local workers with the same qualification were paid $300 per month.
The difference was also spotted by Eka, who said the Chinese workers were paid double what the local workers earned.
JATAM coordinator Melky Nahar acknowledged this issue but highlighted that Chinese workers also faced injustices.
Chinese Labour Watch reported that Chinese workers at PT Gunbuster Nickel Industry dealt with "labour malpractices" such as unreasonable wage deductions, excessive overtime, physical abuse and sexual harassment.
"The main culprit of all these injustices is the corporate, plus the ignorant country, which supports the regulations by the corporate," he said.
"If anything, they are the ones that should be investigated."
Mr Nahar said the government was required to take firm action to regulate corporations.
"Because no matter how much you try to sweep it under the rug, there will be a time where the workers will come together to rebel," he told ABC.
"It's a ticking time bomb that will some day explode."
The Indonesian government has been contacted for comment.
with Reuters