11 die after midnight fire ravages Indonesia market

At least 11 people, including six children, have died after a fire destroyed a market and nearby buildings in Indonesia’s eastern Papua region.

The fire started shortly after midnight in Paniai, Central Papua province, before spreading quickly to several nearby shops, according to local police spokesman Henry Manurung.

Manurung said officers discovered the bodies of 11 victims during an inspection of the affected area.

“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.

He added that the children were between two and nine years old.

The blaze raged for more than three hours, destroying at least 40 kiosks and houses despite the deployment of fire trucks and water cannons.

Authorities were investigating the cause of the fire.

Henry said the tightly packed arrangement of the houses and market stalls made it difficult for firefighters to contain the blaze.

“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,” he said.

Deadly fires are relatively common in Indonesia, where densely packed buildings and inadequate fire-safety measures can make blazes difficult to contain.

In December, 22 people were killed when fire swept through a seven-storey office building in Central Jakarta. Police said an exploding drone battery on the ground floor was the likely cause.

In 2023, an explosion at a nickel-processing plant in eastern Indonesia killed at least 12 people.

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