[imagesource: Sipur AFP]

A massive fire is still blazing at Balongan oil refinery in West Java, Indonesia, after it exploded in the early hours of Monday morning, leaving five people injured.

Indonesian state oil company Pertamin announced yesterday that it would be shutting the refinery down – I’m not sure they had a choice considering the state of it – while they try to get the situation under control, by controlling oil flow.

The refinery generates around 125 000 barrels of oil per day, so the fire has a lot to work with, making that task easier said than done.

The Telegraph reports that they aren’t sure yet what caused the explosion, but officials suspect it might have something to do with the heavy rain and lightning in the region when it happened.

An explosion of this magnitude is hard to describe. You have to see it for yourself:

This video has knitted together a few clips from social media:

The five people who were injured are being treated for burns in the hospital. Some of the injured were passing by when the explosion happened. None of the refinery staff was hurt.

Around 950 residents have been evacuated from nearby areas.

West Java police spokesperson Erdi Chaniago says that they will be investigating the cause of the blaze.

A local described being woken up by “a pungent smell of oil fumes” and “lightning strikes in the sky”.

“We smelled a strong fuel scent first, so strong that my nose hurt, while we heard lightning strikes,” said Susi, who gave only one name.

Image: STR/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

“Suddenly the sky was orange,” she said.

It might take a while before this is cleared up.

[source:telegraph]