Jakarta, Jan 17 Five bodies were evacuated on Friday from a fire that broke out at a shopping mall in the western part of Jakarta on Wednesday evening, as rescuers intensified search efforts for other missing persons.
"Five bodies were found on the eighth floor, inside a karaoke room. All victims were unable to be identified," West Jakarta Fire and Rescue Agency chief Syarifudin told reporters, adding that they were already transferred to a police hospital for identification through DNA analysis.
He also confirmed that the number of missing persons has increased from eight to 14 as more people reported their missing relatives to authorities.
Syarifudin said that search efforts were hampered by many partitions and large areas of the shopping mall.
The area was very large, and the roof collapsed, making the area closed. Room partitions and cables made it difficult for search efforts, he said, Xinhua news agency reported.
The blaze at Glodok Plaza occurred at around 9:20 pm local time Wednesday evening in the densely populated area of Tamansari sub-district. Many visitors were reportedly in the mall at the time of the fire.
Initially, it was reported that seven people went missing after the fire broke out.
The city's fire department had deployed over 40 fire engines and 200 firefighters to combat the fire. Till late Thursday, embers remained in one of the buildings, despite the extinguishing efforts having entered the cooling stage.
Rescuers were deployed to search the seventh and eighth floors, believed to be the last known locations of the missing individuals, in the entertainment areas suspected to be the fire's point of origin.
The city's police spokesperson, Ade Ary Syam Indradi, told local reporters that firefighters and police personnel are still at the location to investigate the main cause of the blaze.
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