Illegal oil well in Indonesia bursts into flames killing at least 18 people

'There was panic among the public because the fire is in a residential area'

At least 18 people were killed and dozens more injured when a fire erupted at an illegal oil well in Indonesia, authorities in the country said.

Firefighters struggled all day to put out the blaze in the northwestern province of Aceh.

At least 41 were injured by the blaze. Many of them were taken to hospital in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, several hours drive from where the accident happened.

“There was panic among the public because the fire is in a residential area,” said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency.

The fire broke out after a 250 metre deep well overflowed and residents gathered to collect the oil, the agency said.

“This is illegal drilling,” said Roberth MV Dumatubun, a spokesman for at PT Pertamina EP, a subsidiary of state oil firm Pertamina. “It was 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.”

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.

“We suspect there was someone smoking,” said police official Wahyu Kuncoro.