International Desk: At least 17 people were killed and dozens injured in a massive fire at a state-run fuel storage depot in Indonesial.

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The fire burnt several houses, caused people to flee in panic and forced the evacuation of residential areas near the depot run by energy firm Pertamina in north Jakarta, officials said.

The Jakarta fire and rescue department said at least 17 people were killed in Friday's fire, which wounded at least 50 people.

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The blaze was put out several hours after it started, army chief of staff Dudung Abdurachman told reporters.

Gunawan said firefighters were working on "cooling" the fire area after bringing it under control.

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The cause of the fire, which started after 8 pm local time (1300 GMT), was not clear.

The military chief Abdurachman and Pertamina said they were investigating the cause.

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The oil and gas firm's chief executive Nicke Widyawati said it would "conduct a full internal evaluation to prevent the reoccurrence of a similar event."

A fire broke out at the same depot in 2009 and fires hit 40 houses near the depot in 2014 but no casualties were reported in either case.

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In 2021 a massive blaze broke out at the Balongan refinery in West Java, also owned by state oil company Pertamina and one of Indonesia's biggest oil refineries.

The fire raged for two days and caused thousands to be evacuated after a huge explosion.

Sun News/MR

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