JAKARTA - More than 70 people were injured after a walkway at the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) building in Jakarta collapsed on Monday (Jan 15), police said.
Victims trapped under the debris were carried out on stretchers and people were evacuated after the walkway at Tower 2 collapsed just after midday.
Videos of people screaming and rushing out of the building went viral online.
The walkway is located above the main lobby of the building and near the area where visitors are screened and checked before entering.
The cause of the collapse is not yet known, but police said it was not due to an explosion.
Jakarta police spokesman Argo Yuwono said 77 people were injured and being treated at four hospitals, adding there were no fatalities in the incident.
He told reporters at the scene that many people working in the building would have been crossing the walkway linking Tower 2 to Tower 1 of the building when it collapsed.
"We are still evaluating, but earlier, 15 ambulances had been conveying victims to hospitals," he said earlier.
Many of the injured were university students who had been visiting the exchange.
Closed-camera footage that emerged hours later showed the platform giving way, with people fleeing from the falling walkway.
After the initial chaos, many rushed back in to help carry out the injured found amid bent steel structures, broken glass and other debris of what was left of the walkway.
One of them, Issa Almawadi, who works for online investment portal Bareksa.com told Bloomberg he heard a loud noise that sent him fleeing from the building. Outside, he and other office workers hailed taxis to help send those who were injured to hospitals.
All of the victims have been evacuated from the scene, said Mr Irwan, the South Jakarta fire chief.
It was a near miss for many like CIMB Private Bank economist, Song Seng Wun, who was attending an event at the IDX.
"Our event just ended and the floor collapsed," he told The Straits Times before returning to Singapore on Monday. "Luckily, all these happened just before the lunch crowd came down."
The director of the stock exchange, Alpino Kianjaya, declined to comment on the incident, Reuters reported. Markets reopened at 1.30pm local time as usual and business resumed in the afternoon.
"Trading continued as normal despite the grave incident, evidence that the disaster recovery plan set out by the bourse is working successfully," Tito Sulistio, president director at the stock exchange, was quoted saying by Bloomberg.
The IDX is located opposite Pacific Place, a popular mall in the Sudirman Central Business District.
It is also about 1km away from the recently renovated Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, which was officially opened by President Joko Widodo on Sunday.
The stadium is the key feature among other sporting facilities in the area which have been undergoing construction for the 2018 Asian Games, to be held in Jakarta and Palembang from Aug 18 to Sept 2 this year.
The complex, which also houses the local office of the World Bank, was targeted by Islamist militants in a car bomb attack in 2000. At least 10 people died and dozens were injured in that incident.
