Fire in Indonesia’s Papua kills 11, including six children

A fire that tore through a market in Indonesia’s easternmost Papua region killed 11 people, including six children, police said.

The blaze began shortly after midnight on Sept. 7 in Paniai, Central Papua province, and quickly spread to several shophouses. It burned for more than three hours and destroyed at least 40 kiosks and houses despite the deployment of fire trucks and a water cannon.

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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.

Police spokesman Henry J. Manurung said officers found 11 victims with burn injuries during an inspection. Five were adults and six were children between two and nine years old.

Authorities were still investigating the cause. Manurung said tightly packed houses and stalls, along with the intensity of the fire, made firefighting take a long time. Deadly fires are not uncommon in Indonesia. In December, 22 people died in a fire at a seven-storey office building in Central Jakarta, while an explosion at a nickel-processing plant in eastern Indonesia killed at least 12 people in 2023.

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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.