Sawt Falasteen - Indonesia firefighters extinguish deadly fuel storage depot fire

"At the moment, there are 14 victims who died," army chief of staff Dudung Abdurachman told reporters, adding the blaze at the facility run by state energy firm Pertamina in Jakarta injured at least 42 others.

The cause of the fire, which started after 8 pm local time (1300 GMT), was not clear.

Among those injured were three children between the ages of three and four years old who were in a serious condition, acting Jakarta governor Heru Budi Hartono told broadcaster Kompas TV.

The blaze forced the evacuation of densely populated neighbourhoods nearby but was put out several hours after it started, army chief of staff Dudung Abdurachman told reporters.

"The fire is already extinguished," he said.

The military chief and Pertamina said they were investigating the cause.

"Pertamina is focused on handling the fire and evacuating workers and residents nearby to a safer location," the company said in a statement.

- Second blaze in years -

The oil and gas firm's chief executive Nicke Widyawati said it would "conduct a full internal evaluation... to prevent the reoccurrence of a similar event."

Heru said the Indonesian government would contribute to the treatment of the injured

Erick Thohir, the country's minister of state-owned enterprises, expressed his condolences for those killed and injured.

"We are all saddened by his tragedy," he said in a statement, calling on Pertamina to fully investigate the incident.

Footage shared on social media, which could not be immediately verified, showed people screaming and fleeing through narrow roads with a raging inferno in the sky behind them.

North Jakarta fire department chief Satriadi Gunawan told AFP that firefighters initially received reports a pipe had burst at the depot and officers quickly worked to contain the blaze from reaching nearby residential areas.

Jakarta's main fire station said it had deployed 51 units and more than 250 firefighters to the Plumpang depot in north Jakarta.

In 2021 a massive blaze broke out at the Balongan refinery in West Java, also owned by state oil company Pertamina and one of Indonesia's biggest oil refineries.

The fire raged for two days and caused thousands to be evacuated after a huge explosion.

Q.Najjar--SF-PST