JAKARTA, Indonesia — A fire erupted at an illegal oil well site in Indonesia’s northernmost province on Wednesday, killing at least 18 people and injuring about 40 others, some of whom were badly burned, the authorities said.



The fire broke out around 1:30 a.m. at a backyard well in a village in Aceh Province, on the northern tip of Sumatra Island, according to the National Disaster Management Agency.

The authorities were still trying to determine what had caused the fire. Local news reports said it may have started with a spark from a blowtorch or a worker smoking a cigarette.

Television news footage and photos showed flames rising at least 30 feet into the air in the farming village of Pasir Putih in East Aceh District, which is about 1,000 miles northwest of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.