JAKARTA, March 3 (Portal) – At least 17 people were killed when a fire broke out at a gas station owned by Indonesia’s state-owned energy company Pertamina (PERTM.UL) in the capital Jakarta on Friday, an official with the city’s main fire unit said.
The fire, which broke out after 8 p.m. local time (1300 GMT), burned down some homes and panicked residents in the densely populated areas, some of whom fled with their belongings, footage broadcasters showed.
A Pertamina spokesman said late Friday the fire was extinguished around 10:30 p.m
Fires were still seen around residents’ homes afterward, a fire station official said on the unit’s Instagram account.
Two of the fatalities were children, while 50 people were injured, including a child, according to Rahmat Kristanto, a fire department official.
Most of the injured suffered burns and the government will pay for their medical treatment, acting Jakarta governor Heru Budi Hartono told reporters.
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Shortly after the fire broke out, explosions could be heard in footage shared on social media, although Portal was unable to authenticate the clips.
Near the storage station, local residents crowded into the area while firefighters carried orange body bags from the fire. Jakarta’s Disaster Management Agency said residents were evacuated to nearby mosques.
Siswandi, a 21-year-old resident, said the scene “was chaotic as we ran away from injured victims who were half burned and it caused panic among people,” adding that he removed all of his valuable documents from his took home.
The Jakarta Main Fire Station call center said it dispatched 51 units to the Plumpang area of North Jakarta, adding that the fire was huge.
Pertamina said in a statement that the cause of the incident is still under investigation and that evacuation efforts are ongoing.
The company said fuel supplies for the Jakarta area remain secure as it plans to divert supplies from other terminals.
Nicke Widyawati, Pertamina’s Chief Executive Officer, apologized for the fire and said it would “reflect internally to avoid that similar incidents ever happen again.”
The gas station has a capacity of over 300,000 kiloliters, according to the country’s Energy Ministry.
Additional reporting by Willy Kurniawan, Ananda Teresia, Fransiska Nagoy, Stanley Widianto and Gayatri Suroyo; Editing by Alex Richardson, Elaine Hardcastle, Sharon Singleton, Hugh Lawson and Susan Fenton
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