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View all search resultsThree die after five shop houses catch fire in Langkat
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Fire engulfs seven houses on Jl. Anggrek Nelly Murni in Palmerah, West Jakarta, on Friday (July 25, 2017). (Warta Kota/File)
T
hree people died after a fire razed several shop houses in a densely-populated area in Babalan District, Langkat Regency, in North Sumatra on Wednesday evening.
The three people who died were from the same family, living in one of the houses damaged by the fire.
The fire started at around 11.45 p.m and was not put out until 4.30. a.m after five fire trucks were deployed to the scene. Some witnesses said the fire, allegedly caused by an electrical short circuit, had started from a shop called Serba Lima Ribu.
A witness, Dayat, said residents had initially tried to tackle the fire with basic equipment while trying to get the victims out of their house. He said the fire grew very quickly and the victims got trapped inside the house.
“When the fire started to burn a bottom section of the victims’ house, residents tried to break down the door [to save the people inside]. But the flames quickly grew and the three people were trapped in the house. They could not get out,” Dayat told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
When the fire was eventually extinguished, residents found the bodies of the three people in the living room. The three were identified as Leni, aka Alien, 45; Ivan, 17; and Sella, 14.
Langkat Police chief Sr. Adj. Comr. Dede Rojudin said the police were investigating the incident. (saf/ary)
