Indonesian lighter factory owner, supervisor arrested after blaze that left 30 dead

Victims trapped inside could not escape because the front door was locked and the fire spread quickly as most of the house was made of wood

The fire killed 25 workers, all women, and five children who were visiting their parents at work, according to a survivor

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The burnt-out house that doubled as a light workshop in Binjai, North Sumatra province. Photo: AFP

Published: 4:55pm, 22 Jun 2019Updated: 10:51pm, 22 Jun 2019

Two people have been identified as suspects by authorities investigating a deadly fire at an Indonesian lighter factory that killed 30 people including several children, a police chief said on Saturday.

A man and a woman, identified only as the owner and supervisor of the workshop, were arrested in North Sumatra’s capital Medan soon after the fire ripped through a rented home that operated as a lighter factory in the town of Binjai, about 70 kilometres west of the capital.

Investigators work at the scene of the burnt-out house in Binjai on June 21. Photo: AFP

Local police chief Nugroho Tri Nuryanto said the pair were being investigated for “negligence” and could face up to five years in prison.

The business was initially reported as a matchstick factory but an investigation revealed it was actually producing gas lighters.

Police were initially working on the assumption that a gas canister explosion may have set off the blaze, but it actually broke after a lighter one of the workers was testing blew up. The panicked worker threw it on a pile of thousands of ready-to-pack products, triggering a massive explosion.