At least 17 people were killed and dozens injured in a fire at a fuel depot in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Friday, authorities said.
The Jakarta fire department announced that 17 people, including two children, were killed in the fire and at least 50 more were injured.
Indonesian rescue teams and firefighters were looking for more than a dozen missing people this Saturday under the rubble of burned-out houses and buildings, according to Ap reporting the deaths of 16 people in the fire.
The Plumpang fuel storage station, operated by the state oil and gas company Pertamina, is near a densely populated area of ??the Tanah Merah neighborhood in north Jakarta. It supplies 25% of the fuel that Indonesia needs.
At least 260 firefighters and 52 fire trucks extinguished the flames shortly before midnight Friday after they raged through the neighborhood for more than two hours, according to fire officials.
Many of the injured and deceased suffered severe burns from the fire, the head of the department, Satriadi Gunawan, told Afp.
The cause of the incident, which began at the facilities of state oil company Pertamina at 8:00 p.m. local time (1:00 p.m. GMT), was not clear.
The flames were not put out until hours later, Army Chief of Staff Dudung Abdurachman said.
The footage showed hundreds of people running in panic as thick plumes of black smoke and orange flames filled the sky.
According to a preliminary investigation, the fire started from a pipeline burst during heavy rain, possibly caused by lightning, said Eko Kristiawan, Pertamina area director for western Java, AP reports.
Residents near the depot said they smelled a strong smell of gasoline, which caused some people to vomit, after which two thunderclaps rumbled, followed by a large explosion around 8 p.m.
National Police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo said more than 1,300 people were displaced and taking refuge in 10 government offices, a Red Cross command post and a sports stadium.
He said investigators were still working to establish the cause of the fire and question dozens of witnesses.
Pertamina director Nicke Widyawati apologized and said the company would provide help to the community and cooperate in the investigation.
“We will carry out a thorough evaluation and internal reflection to prevent similar incidents from happening again,” Widyawati said in a statement, adding that the company guaranteed the safe supply of fuel oil.
This Saturday, grieving relatives gathered at the mortuary of an East Jakarta police hospital to try to identify their loved ones. Officials said the victims were burned beyond recognition and could only be identified through DNA and dental records.
In 2014, a fire in the same fuel depot destroyed at least 40 houses, but no casualties were reported.
In 2021 there was a massive fire at the Balongan refinery, also belonging to the Pertamina company and one of the largest in the country, located in the west of the island of Java.
The place burned for two days and forced the evacuation of thousands of inhabitants after a gigantic explosion caused by the fire.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project