At least 30 dead in fire at Indonesia home used as match factory

Residents examine the damage after a fire razed through a match factory in Langkat, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Photo / AP

At least 30 people including children were killed in a fire that swept through a house that doubled as a match factory in Indonesia's North Sumatra province, a disaster official said Friday.

Irwan Syahri, from the local disaster mitigation agency in Langkap district, said the dead included three children. He said many of the victims are burned beyond recognition.

TV footage showed the burned-out structure, its floor littered with twisted metal, blackened corrugated iron roofing and other debris.

The house owner, an elderly woman identified only as Ros, told MetroTV that she had rented the property for the past four years to a businessman from the provincial capital Medan.

North Sumatra police spokesman M.P. Nainggolan said the cause of the fire was still unclear.

Millions of Indonesians work in unsafe conditions in informal or poorly regulated industries and accidents and fatalities are common.

Dozens died in the collapse of an unlicensed gold mine in North Sulawesi in February, and at least 47 people including underage workers were killed by a blaze at a fireworks factory in a Jakarta satellite city in October 2017.

- AP