Indonesia ferry fire: 5 dead, 41 missing, 225 rescued
A ferry carrying passengers in Indonesian waters caught fire on Sunday, leaving five people dead and 41 missing, according to the country's search and rescue agency. Officials said 225 people on board have been rescued.
The vessel was sailing from Surabaya in East Java to Makassar in South Sulawesi when the fire broke out. Some passengers jumped into the sea and were picked up by a nearby ship, said Basarnas, Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency.
The regional Surabaya Search and Rescue Agency provided the latest figures in an afternoon update. Rescue teams have been coordinating with vessels in the vicinity of the incident site to evacuate passengers, a senior transport ministry official said.
Four other vessels were on standby near the ferry but could not approach because of the risk posed by flammable material on board, Basarnas said. A larger rescue operation was heading to the site from Surabaya, a journey of about six hours.
The captain of the ferry contacted the ferry company to report the fire, but the captain has not been in contact since then, Basarnas said.
The Ministry of Transportation released a statement from Muhammad Masyhud, a senior official, saying, “The safety of passengers and crew is our top priority. We are continuously coordinating with all relevant parties to ensure that the evacuation process can proceed quickly, safely, and effectively.”
Marine accidents are a regular occurrence in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, partly due to lax safety standards and unpredictable weather. In a separate incident last month, a ferry transporting more than 70 people sank near Selayar, a small tropical island south of Sulawesi. At least four people were found dead, and 14 others remained missing until the end of the search operation.
Authorities have not yet determined the cause of Sunday's fire. Search and rescue efforts are continuing, with officials saying the priority remains the safety of all passengers and crew.
