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Dozens killed, injured as Jakarta fuel depot fire engulfs neighborhood

Police officers inspect body bags containing victims after a fire from a fuel storage depot in Jakarta, Indonesia, spread to a residential neighborhood on Friday. Photo by Mast Irham/EPA-EFE
Police officers inspect body bags containing victims after a fire from a fuel storage depot in Jakarta, Indonesia, spread to a residential neighborhood on Friday. Photo by Mast Irham/EPA-EFE

March 4 (UPI) -- At least 15 people were killed and searchers combed a section of the Indonesian capital of Jakarta for survivors Saturday after a massive fire engulfed a fuel storage depot.

National Police spokeperson Dedi Prasetyo told reporters the death toll had been revised down from an initial report of 17 fatalities around the state-owned PT Pertamina oil depot in Plumpang, North Jakarta.

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Dozens more were injured and hospitalized in the blaze.

Local reports indicated many of the victims were found inside charred houses surrounding the facility, including the bodies of a mother and her child.

As Saturday wore on, police carried out searches in areas around the depot and worked to pin down a cause of the conflagration at the plant, which mainly distributes fuel to Indonesia's capital and the West Java area, according to Bloomberg.

Aerial reconnaissance of the fire scene showed scores of houses destroyed by the fire.

National Police Chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo said the fire first broke out around 8 p.m. Friday local time while the depot was receiving a shipment of Pertamax oil from the Indonesian city of Balongan in Java.

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Police are interviewing witnesses and gathering CCTV images in an attempt to pin down the cause of the mishap, Prabowo said at a briefing.

"The things we need are very technical in nature which we can use later to scientifically explain the actual events, especially those related to the source of the fire," he said.

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