Fire rips through tsunami-ravaged city
A fire was raging in Indonesia’s tsunami-battered Banda Aceh city today, with strong winds fanning the flames across a debris-strewn area spanning at least half a mile.
The flames were approaching a power generator, raising fears gas and oil inside the machine may explode. The generator is on a barge that the tsunami washed nearly two miles inland.
Gas cylinders among the ruins of homes were exploding as they caught fire.
Firefighters at the scene said they were running out of water. In one area, debris blocked three fire trucks from getting closer than 200 meters to the flames and firefighters were dragging dry wood away from the blaze to prevent it from spreading.
No one was known to be living in the area of the blaze, Ulee Lheu, which is part of Banda Aceh, the provincial capital. Much of it was flattened by the Boxing Day tsunami and detritus is stacked about three meters high.
The blaze started at 8pm yesterday.
The fire was a further blow to Banda Aceh residents who survived the killer walls of water that killed about 40,000 people in this city.
