Fire in drone storage kills 22 in Jakarta
A fire ripped through a seven-storey building in the heart of the capital, home to a subsidiary of a Japan-based company that sells and services drones. The fire’s effects were exacerbated by the burning of lithium batteries stored in the building. Nineteen people were rescued from the top floor terrace where they had fled to escape the toxic fumes.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) – A few days after a high-rise fire in Hong Kong's Tai Po District, which killed more than 160 people, another serious blaze has hit an Asian metropolis.
A seven-story building located in Cempaka Putih, in the heart of Jakarta, was engulfed in flames resulting in the death of at least 22 people – seven men and fifteen women, Central Jakarta Police Chief Susatyo Purnomo Condro said.
The dead were all company employees at a sale and storage facility owned by the Indonesian subsidiary of a Japanese drone company, Terra Drone Corporation, specialising in drones for large-scale aerial reconnaissance in agriculture and mining.
The tragedy occurred when some employees were eating in the office during their lunch break.
The blaze started in the ground floor and spread to the upper levels.
Some workers escaped using portable ladders, while one man attempted to escape the flames by jumping from a broken window. Others managed to climb to the top terrace. Nineteen people were rescued in all.
According to unconfirmed reports, most of the victims did not die from burns, but from toxic fumes that included hazardous elements released from lithium batteries stored on the ground floor of the building.
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