Indonesian residents have searched through the remains of their charred homes after a fuel storage depot fire in Jakarta killed at least 17 people, including two children, reports BBC.
According to the local source, the fire, which started at approximately 8pm (01:00 GMT) on Friday from a fuel pipe at Pertamina’s Plumpang fuel storage depot in Jakarta, quickly spread to nearby houses and sent residents in the densely populated area into a panic.
Sixty people were injured, with many severely burned, while hundreds more living in residential areas near the depot had to be evacuated.
A total of 342 people had been evacuated and that four tents were set up for the displaced, said the North Jakarta Red Cross.
Three people were still missing after the blaze, with Indonesian officials the next day calling for an audit of “all fuel facilities and infrastructures” in the country.
Vice President Ma’ruf Amin visited the scene on Saturday and confirmed 17 people were killed and 60 more injured.
He suggested the depot should be moved away from residential neighbourhoods.
Footage broadcast on Friday night showed people screaming and fleeing through narrow roads with an inferno lighting up the sky behind them.
A fireball could be seen across the skyline of north Jakarta with sirens wailing in the background.
Abdul Syukur, who also lives nearby, told Kompas TV that residents said they could smell the fuel about 30 minutes before the fire.
Bd-pratidin English/Golam Rosul
