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Fuel depot blaze put out in Jakarta

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  • NEW: One tank went up in flames; other six are safe, Pertamina secretary says
  • Pertamina says Jakarta has sufficient fuel reserves to last a week
  • Authorities are investigating the cause of the fire
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From Andy Saputra
CNN
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JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- Firefighters extinguished a massive blaze at a fuel depot in the Indonesian capital Monday morning after a day-long fire burned hundreds of thousands of gallons of gasoline.

People watch a fire at Jakarta's lone fuel depot on Sunday.

People watch a fire at Jakarta's lone fuel depot on Sunday.

The fire sent black clouds of smoke billowing over the city at its peak, but firefighters managed to contain the conflagration to one of the six massive storage tanks at the depot.

"Only one tank went up in flames during the fire. The other six tanks are safe," said Toharso, secretary of the state oil company Pertamina.

Pertamina lost around 2500 kiloliters (660,000 gallons) of unleaded gasoline during the fire, Toharso said.

Despite Pertamina's statement that Jakarta had sufficient fuel reserves to last a week, Jakartans lined up at area gas stations as the tank burned Sunday. The company still has about 52,000 kiloliters on hand to serve the capital, Toharso said.

Officials ordered nearby residents to evacuate, ordered power cut to the immediate vicinity to prevent any further conflagrations and cordoned off the area.

Authorities were investigating the cause of the fire.

Last October, police in Indonesia arrested five suspected militants who they said were planning to attack the depot.

The suspected militants were believed to have ties to the al Qaeda-linked terrorist network, Jemaah Islamiyah, which aims to create a Muslim "superstate" across much of Southeast Asia.

Authorities blame Jemaah Islamiyah for the Bali nightclub bombings of 2002 that killed more than 200 tourists, most of them Westerners. Investigators also suspect the group in subsequent attacks in Jakarta on the Australian Embassy and J.W. Marriott Hotel.

All About IndonesiaAccidents and DisastersJakarta

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