Dozens more injured in two blasts and fire at factory on outskirts of Jakarta that opened just two months ago

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Two explosions and a subsequent blaze at a fireworks factory on the western outskirts of Indonesia’s capital have killed at least 47 people and injured dozens more, officials have said.



TV news channels broadcast images of thick plumes of dark smoke billowing from a warehouse in the Tangerang district of Jakarta, an industrial and manufacturing hub on the island of Java.

“There are 47 bodies,” police spokesman Argo Yuwono told Metro Television. “From the manifest we obtained there were 103 workers.” Of this latter figure, 46 were injured in the explosion, he said, adding that they were being treated at three nearby hospitals.

Witnesses told local media there were two explosions, one at about 10am and another about three hours later, both of which could be heard miles away.

Harry Kurniawan, the Tangerang police chief, said the bodies were discovered by his officers when they entered the factory warehouse, the Detik news site reported. He said the death toll could rise further as many of the dozens of injured have extensive burns.

Beni Benteng, a local resident, told AFP he heard an explosion and people inside screaming for help. “My friends and I and some police officers knocked down a wall so people could escape, then the workers came out,” he said. “I saw people including women were jumping from above, oh my God.”

Authorities have not yet said how the fire started, but confirmed it began near the front door and quickly spread.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A firefighter sprays water on to the site of an explosion at a firecracker factory in Tangerang. Photograph: Tatan Syuflana/AP

Media images of the PT Panca Buana Cahaya Sukses warehouse showed smouldering ash and debris, and the roof missing. The factory had been operating for less than two months, local media reported.

Friends and family looking for loved ones thronged a nearby police hospital in Keramat Jati on Thursday.

Video footage shot by an AFP stringer showed victims, covered in bandages, laid out on stretches and others with minor injuries sitting in the hallways or outside.

A factory worker at the hospital said the fire erupted in the middle of production. “I don’t know how it happened, I was working outside of the factory and there were some explosions, four cars exploded and almost all motorbikes also exploded,” Ade, who suffered burns to his arms and legs, told AFP.

Deadly fires are not uncommon in Indonesia due to poor safety standards that are routinely flouted. Seventeen people were killed when a fire ripped through a karaoke bar on Sulawesi island in 2015. In 2009, a fire killed 20 people at a karaoke bar in Medan, on Sumatra island.