Ground zero: Bystanders watching as a search and rescue team searches for victims after the fire at the state-run oil storage depot in Jakarta. — AFP
THE country will relocate residents living near a fuel storage fire that killed 16 people or remove the depot owned by state energy company Pertamina to a safer location, President Joko Widodo said.
The decision would rest with State-Owned Enterprise Minister Erick Thohir, Pertamina and Jakarta Governor Heru Budi Hartono, the president said yesterday, adding that no one could live near the facility.
Dozens were injured and hundreds remained displaced yesterday, Indonesia’s disaster agency said, after Friday’s night’s fire which began in a fuel pipe at the Plumpang depot in the capital Jakarta.
“We do have a clear solution towards this problem,” the president, commonly known as Jokowi, said as he visited survivors in temporary shelters in Plumpang.
He said the decision would be made in a day or two.
The fire spread to nearby houses, panicking people in the densely populated area before it was extinguished on Friday night.
Pertamina has lifted the emergency status for the facility and restarted distribution. It said Jakarta’s fuel supply would remain secure.
Investigation continues into the cause of the fire. The company said on Saturday a pipe leak was detected before the blaze.
The depot might be relocated to artificial islands off the north coast of Jakarta, Jokowi said, adding that ideally the depot would be surrounded by river, not a settlement.
Seventeen artificial islands, built by the Jakarta government under the capital’s land reclamation project, have been abandoned in recent years.
Jokowi ordered an audit of similar facilities across Indonesia to prevent similar incidents from occurring.
Meanwhile, Indonesian rescuers and firefighters yesterday searched for three people who were still missing following the fire.
National police chief Gen Listyo Sigit Prabowo said a preliminary investigation showed the fire was caused by a technical problem involving excess pressure as the depot received fuel from Pertamina’s Balongan Refinery in West Java province.
“It was found that a fire occurred during a filling of Pertamax fuel,” Listyo told a news conference late Saturday, referring to a type of fuel oil produced by Pertamina.
He didn’t elaborate as investigators from Pertamina and the police were still working to confirm the cause of the fire, including by questioning dozens of witnesses and examining video recordings from surveillance cameras. — Agencies
