At least ten people have died in a series of residential fires across Indonesia, Malaysia, Brazil and Argentina since Saturday, according to local authorities and emergency services. The incidents, which range from a suspected electrical blaze in a densely populated Jakarta neighbourhood to an alleged arson attack in rural Malaysia, have left families displaced and prompted multiple criminal investigations.

In the Indonesian capital, a fire that broke out around 3 a.m. on Sunday in the Pulogadung district of East Jakarta killed three people—a 10-year-old girl, a 40-year-old woman and a 67-year-old woman—and injured one other, the city’s fire and rescue service said. The flames destroyed a house, a grocery shop and a food stall across an area of 144 square metres. Jakarta’s disaster mitigation agency stated that the provisional suspected cause is an electrical short circuit originating from a power socket, though a police investigation is ongoing. Separately, in South Lampung regency on Sumatra island, a couple aged 86 and 79 died late Sunday when their isolated home caught fire; local fire officials said a mosquito coil is the suspected trigger.

In Malaysia’s northern Kedah state, police arrested a 36-year-old man on Sunday afternoon after a two-storey house belonging to his 60-year-old mother was gutted by fire. The Kubang Pasu district police chief told reporters that the suspect was seen entering the unoccupied house and leaving through a window roughly 30 minutes before flames spread from the living room, destroying 80 per cent of the structure. The man, who has previous criminal and drug-related records, is being investigated under Section 436 of the Penal Code for mischief by fire with intent to destroy a dwelling. Across the South Atlantic, military police in Brazil’s Piauí state detained a man accused of setting his brother-in-law’s house ablaze after a dispute in the rural zone of Uruçuí on Saturday. Officers found the property completely burned; relatives had restrained the suspect, who was described as agitated and was taken to the local police station to face charges of qualified damage involving flammable substances.

In Argentina, a fire in the city of La Plata that killed two people is being treated as a possible homicide. A woman came forward to identify one of the victims as her mother, telling investigators the deceased had struggled with health and addiction problems and that they had not been in frequent contact. Crucially, a video obtained by the homicide division of the regional investigative unit shows a man entering the property and fleeing seconds before the fire started, a sequence that has led prosecutors to examine whether the blaze was intentionally set. No formal identification of the victims has yet been released.

All incidents remain under active investigation. Indonesian and Malaysian authorities have not ruled out accidental causes, while Brazilian and Argentine investigators are pursuing lines of inquiry that could lead to criminal charges. The provisional death toll stands at ten, with several families receiving emergency shelter and aid from local social services and Red Cross volunteers.