Fire in Indonesia’s Papua kills 11, including 6 children
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- A fire in Papua's Paniai town killed 11 people, including six children aged two to nine, and destroyed at least 40 kiosks and houses.
- The fire lasted over three hours, spreading quickly owing to tightly packed stalls, despite efforts with fire trucks and water cannons.
- Authorities are investigating the cause; deadly fires are common in Indonesia, with recent incidents killing dozens in Jakarta and a nickel plant explosion.
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JAYAPURA, Indonesia - A fire in Indonesia’s easternmost Papua region razed a market on Sept 7 and killed 11 people, including six children, the police said.
The fire was first spotted in the town of Paniai in Central Papua province shortly after midnight, and it quickly spread to several shophouses, local police spokesman Henry J. Manurung said.
“During the inspection, officers found 11 victims who had died with burn injuries. Of the 11 victims, five of them were adults, while the other six were children,” Henry said in a statement.
The children were aged between two and nine, he added.
The fire, which raged for more than three hours, destroyed at least 40 kiosks and houses, despite the deployment of fire trucks and water cannon.
The authorities were still investigating the cause of the fire.
“The intensity of the blaze and the fact that the houses and stalls were all packed tightly together made the firefighting process take quite a long time,” Henry said.
Deadly fires are not uncommon in Indonesia.
In December, 22 people died when a fire tore through a seven-storey office building in Central Jakarta.
Police said a drone battery that exploded on the ground floor was the likely cause.
An explosion at a nickel-processing plant in the country’s east in 2023 killed at least 12 people. AFP
