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Indonesian: A massive fire broke out at a fuel storage depot in the Indonesian capital on Friday, killing 17 people and injuring dozens more. Thousands of people living there had to be evacuated from their homes after the fire spread to nearby areas, officials said.
The fuel storage depot, operated by state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina, is located near a densely populated area in the Tanah Merah area of North Jakarta. It supplies 25 percent of Indonesia’s fuel needs.Fire officials said that at least 260 firemen and 52 fire tenders are engaged in extinguishing the fire in the surrounding area.
S Gunawan, head of the Jakarta Fire and Rescue Department, said people living near the scene were still being evacuated and taken to a village hall and a mosque. He told that due to the fire there have been many explosions and it has spread rapidly to the houses. He said that at least 17 people have died, including two children, and 50 people have been admitted to the hospital.
According to media reports, Indonesian army chief Dudung Abdurchaman told that the fire could be extinguished after several hours of effort. He told that at present the fire has been extinguished, rescue work is being done. The army chief said that we are probing the cause of the fire. “There must be an operational evaluation in the future. I’ll continue to monitor this case,” Thohir said in a video statement.
At the same time, the Pertamina company said that it is working towards evacuating the nearby workers and residents to safer places. The chief executive of the company said that he would review and find out the reasons to prevent such incidents.
