Death toll in fuel depot fire rises to 17
At least 17 people were killed and dozens injured in a fire at a state-run fuel depot in the capital’s north Jakarta.
Houses near the depot were burnt to ashes.
AFP
A fire at a state-run fuel depot in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Friday killed at least 17 people and injured dozens and was brought under control by firefighters, officials said.
An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the incident, which occurred shortly after 8:00 pm local time (1:00 pm GMT) at the facilities of national oil company Pertamina, the chief of forces told reporters. Tudung Abdurachman. Jakarta firefighters said on Twitter that at least 17 people had died and 50 were injured.
The fire, which was extinguished within hours, prompted the evacuation of densely populated neighborhoods near the depot, located north of the city, officials said. Television footage showed people fleeing through narrow streets, huge flames rising into the sky behind them. Chatriyadi Gunawan, the fire chief for the northern part of the capital, told AFP that there were initial reports of a pipe burst at the depot.
At least 250 firefighters were mobilized
His men, more than 250 in total, moved quickly from the Plumbong depot to contain the fire and prevent it from spreading to nearby residential areas. Niki Vidyavathy, general manager of national oil major Pertamina, promised to carry out “an in-depth internal investigation to prevent such an accident from happening again”. He said the country’s fuel supply was not affected and other terminals were taking over.
A fire broke out at the same depot in 2009 and another fire nearby affected 40 homes in 2014, with no casualties in either case. In 2021, a major fire broke out at the Balongan Refinery, one of the country’s largest refineries owned by Pertamina in West Java. The fire raged for two days and thousands of people were evacuated after the eruption.
AFP
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