Watch: Indonesian hospital struggles to treat victims of deadly oil well blaze
Fifteen dead, dozens injured in a fire at the oil well in Indonesia
Firefighters struggled all day to put out the blaze in the northwestern province of Aceh and were still working as darkness fell
An Indonesia hospital in Aceh struggled to treat dozens of burn victims from a fire at an illegal oil well that killed at least 18 on Wednesday (April 25) as they scrambled to collect oil after the well overflowed, authorities said.
Firefighters struggled all day to put out the blaze in the northwestern province of Aceh and were still working as darkness fell.
Dozens of people suffering from burns were taken to hospital in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, several hours away from where the accident happened.
Pertamina, which has operations in the area, was providing equipment to help fight the fire. At least eight fire trucks had been deployed to try to douse the blaze. The head of police in the area said the fire might have been sparked by a careless smoker.
Flames towered over houses and trees as firefighters hosed down the area while villagers watched, in pictures posted on social media by Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the spokesman of Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency.
"There was panic among the public because the fire is in a residential area," said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.
The fire broke out in the east Aceh district in the early hours of Wednesday, after a well of depth 250 metres (820 ft) overflowed and residents gathered to collect the oil, the agency added.
The head of police in east Aceh said the oil well might have been drilled illegally and the fire might have been started when someone was smoking a cigarette.
"This is illegal drilling," said Roberth MV Dumatubun, a spokesman for at PT Pertamina EP, a subsidiary of state oil firm Pertamina.
"It was a well made and managed by the residents there. Incidents like these are likely to happen because they don't pay attention to elements like safety."