At least 17 people died in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Friday in a massive fire that broke out at a fuel storage station operated by state energy company Pertamina, firefighters said, Reuters reported.

Shortly after the fire started, explosions rang out. The fire, which broke out after 8:00 p.m. local time (3:00 p.m. Romanian time), engulfed several houses and caused panic among residents of densely populated areas nearby, some of whom ran away with what they had, images showed. television, News.ro cites.

Near the warehouse, residents tried to get out of the area, as firefighters carried bags of corpses. An eyewitness said that there were chaotic scenes, injured people, half-burned, they were also running away, and this caused even more panic. Many residents took refuge in nearby mosques.

A representative of the Pertamina company said late on Friday that the fire was extinguished around 10:30 p.m. local time, but flames were still visible in the surrounding houses. 51 firefighting units were sent to the Plumpang district in the north of Jakarta.

Two of the dead were children, 50 people were injured, including one child. Most of the victims received burns, and the government will pay for their treatment, Acting Jakarta Governor Geru Budi Hartono told reporters.

Pertamina’s statement states that the cause of the incident is being investigated, and the evacuation is ongoing.

Pertamina chief executive Nike Vidyawati apologized for the fire and said it would “reflect internally to avoid similar incidents again”.

According to the Ministry of Energy of the country, the gas station has a capacity of more than 300,000 kiloliters. (News.ro)