Indonesia fuel depot fire kills 19: 3 still missing

Indonesian rescuers and firefighters on Sunday searched for three people who were still missing after a large fire spread from a fuel storage depot in the capital and killed at least 19 people.

The Plumpang fuel storage station, operated by state-run oil and gas company Pertamina, is near a densely populated area in the Tanah Merah neighborhood in North Jakarta. It supplies 25% of Indonesia’s fuel needs.

At least 260 firefighters and 52 fire engines extinguished the blaze just before midnight on Friday after it tore through the neighborhood for more than two hours, fire officials said.

Footage showed hundreds of people running in panic as thick plumes of black smoke and orange flames filled the sky.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited the fire-hit areas on Sunday morning to reassure people that the government would help those in need.

Widodo said he has ordered the minister of state-owned enterprises and the Jakarta governor to immediately find a way to relocate residents away from the fuel storage area or to move the depot away from the neighborhood.

“Not only in here, but all state-owned vital objects must be audited and re-evaluated to determine a safe buffer zone for the community, because this involves human life,” Widodo told reporters after visiting a temporary shelter for displaced people in North Jakarta’s Koja neighborhood.

Source: Somali National News Agency