"This morning two more people died," Acting Chief of the Aceh Provincial Disasrer Mitigation Board Teuku Ahmad Dadek said on Thursday.
One of the dead victims was identified as Ishak (48), who lived in the sub-district where the illegal oil well was located, Dadek said.
Ishak was one of the 18 victims who were treated at Sultan Abdul Aziz Hospital in Peureulak, East Aceh, for serious burn wounds, he said.
The other dead victim was identified as Zainal Abidin (35), who was a resident of Pasir Putih Village. Abidin was also treated at the hospital before he died, Dadek said.
"Until now 38 people are receiving medical treatment at hospitals for wounds," he said.
The other injured are being treated at Dr Zubir Mahmud Hospital in Idi, East Aceh.
All the victims were residents of Ranto Peureulak Subdistrict of East Aceh District.
The incident occurred when one of the illegal oil wells, drilled to a depth of 100 meters, exploded and spouted out oil. Dozens of people who saw the oil spill out from the well started to collect them.
Suddenly, the blaze erupted and the victims, who were collecting oil, were trapped in the fire. Two houses near the location also caught fire.
Head of Aceh Timur District H.Hasballah HM Thaib noted that the authority has deployed its fire extinguishers to put out the fire. "The fire is allegedly mixed with gas."
"We hope that PT Pertamina and the legal authority would help extinguish the fire and close all illegal oil wells in East Aceh. Such incidents have been occurring repeatedly," he noted.
Reported by Muhammad Said
(T.S012/B/KR-BSR/R013)
Reporter: antara
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
