A fire at a retirement home in the city of Manado on Indonesia's Sulawesi island has killed 16 people, a local police official said on Monday (December 29).

The fire at the Werdha Damai retirement home was ablaze late on Sunday (December 28) and authorities are still investigating its cause, Manado police chief Irham Halid said in a news conference on Monday, as police need to conduct postmortem process to get DNA from relatives to help identify victims.

Footage showed the fire blazing through the home, turning the night sky orange, with residents appearing to help one elderly person escape from the burning building.

Survivors were treated at Manado Regional General Hospital, mostly for burns and trauma, accompanied by their families.

Production: Alamsyah Johan, Abd. Rahman Muchtar, Heru Asprihanto/Reuters