Jakarta (ANTARA) - A fire that ripped through three homes in a South Jakarta neighborhood early Saturday morning killed four children and injured two adult women, according to the local fire and rescue agency.

The victims — identified only by their initials as PL (13), K (3), A (7), and A (4) — were among 27 residents affected by the blaze, which broke out at around 6:21 a.m. on Jalan Kutilang 28, Bukit Duri, Tebet Sub-district.

The bodies of the three girls and one boy were taken to Bhayangkara Police Hospital for post-mortem examination, according to South Jakarta Fire and Rescue Agency head Syamsul Huda.

He said the fire was caused by an electrical short circuit. The two injured women were also taken to the same hospital for treatment.

The flames spread across approximately 200 square meters and were extinguished after the deployment of 20 fire trucks and 76 firefighters. Narrow access roads hampered the firefighters' efforts to rescue and evacuate residents, Huda added.

Jakarta has seen several fatal fires in recent years. On April 18, 2024, a fire in a shop-house in Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta, killed seven people. On March 3, 2023, a massive blaze at the Plumpang Pertamina Depot in Koja, North Jakarta, killed 33 people.

On October 22, 2022, three people — a mother and her two children — died in a house fire in Pademangan, North Jakarta. On February 26, 2022, a woman and her two young children were killed in a fire that destroyed two buildings in Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta.

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