At least 30 people including children were killed in a fire that swept through a small factory producing matchsticks in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province on 21 June 2019.

Many of the victims were burned beyond recognition. The blaze broke out at midday in the makeshift facility located in a residential area, killing 27 adults and three children, said Riadil Akhir Lubis, head of the provincial disaster mitigation agency.

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

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.

Source : REUTERS| June 21, 2019