A fire razed through a match factory in North Sumatra, Indonesia. Photo: AP
Source:
https://scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3015539/least-24-dead-indonesia-matchstick-factory-fire Southeast Asia
At least 30 dead in fire at Indonesia home used as matchstick factory
- TV footage showed plumes of black smoke billowing from the home in the town of Binjai in North Sumatra
- Deadly fires are not uncommon in Indonesia due to poor safety standards that are routinely flouted
Dozens were killed in a fire that swept through a house that doubled as a match factory in Indonesia. Photo: AP
At least 30 people, including several children, were killed when a fire ripped through a home that doubled as a matchstick factory in Indonesia on Friday, authorities said.
“We do not know what caused the fire but it has been extinguished,” the head of North Sumatra’s disaster agency Riadil Lubis told Asaid, adding that at least three children were among the victims.
Pictures from the scene showed blackened corpses lying on top of each other, while TV footage showed plumes of black smoke billowing from the home in the town of Binjai in North Sumatra.
“When I was about to go out Friday prayers there was a loud explosion,” said local resident Budi Zulkifli.
Binjai police chief Nugroho Tri Nuryanto said a gas canister explosion may have set off the blaze, but that the cause still needed to be confirmed.
“We’re still identifying the victims and scouring the scene,” he said, adding that three people escaped the blaze.
It was not clear why there were children at the scene. But one survivor, identified only as Pipit, said that they were visiting their parents who worked at the site.
Irwan Syahri, head of the local disaster mitigation agency, told Metro TV, that the victims “were all badly burned and hard to recognise”.
Relatives of the workers have flocked to a local hospital in Medan to identify their loved ones, according to local media.
Deadly fires are not uncommon in Indonesia due to poor safety standards that are routinely flouted.
In 2017, at least 46 people were killed and dozens more injured in a blaze that tore through a fireworks factory outside Jakarta.
Seventeen people were killed when a fire ripped through a karaoke bar on Sulawesi island in 2015 and, in 2009, a fire killed 20 people at a karaoke bar in Medan on Sumatra island.