Four die after being trapped in Medan house fire

A filepic of a man cleaning his house after fire razed his home in Central Jakarta in 2017. - The Jakarta Post/ANN

MEDAN, Aug 7 (The Jakarta Post/ANN): Four members of one family died after being trapped in a house fire in a densely populated residential area in Medan Belawan district in Medan, North Sumatra, on Thursday, local authorities have reported.

Two other family members were also injured in the fire that started at around 5am which took an hour to bring under control.

Medan Fire Agency chief Albon Sidauruk said the victims were a middle-aged couple, one of their parents and a teenage child.

Albon suspected that the victims were unable to save themselves because the house door was locked and they could not find the key.

“According to a preliminary report, one of the family members was cooking before the fire. We suspect a gas leak was the cause (of the fire),” he said. North Sumatra Police’s forensic laboratory staff are investigating the case.