Indonesian passenger ferry catches fire at sea, five dead and 41 missing
An Indonesian passenger ferry caught fire while sailing at sea on Sunday, killing five people and leaving 41 others missing after some passengers jumped overboard, search and rescue officials said.
The ferry was carrying passengers from Surabaya in East Java to Makassar in South Sulawesi when the fire broke out. The captain informed the ferry company about the blaze, but officials said there has been no further contact with him since then.
A total of 225 people from the vessel have been rescued, according to the Surabaya Search and Rescue Agency, which released an updated casualty report on Sunday afternoon.
Some passengers escaped the burning ferry by jumping into the sea and were later rescued by a nearby ship, Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) said.
Four other vessels were placed on standby near the ferry but could not move closer due to the danger posed by flammable materials on board, Basarnas added.
A larger rescue operation was dispatched from Surabaya to the location of the incident, with officials saying the journey would take around six hours.
"Based on preliminary reports from the field, passengers are waiting to be evacuated by the vessels in the vicinity of the incident site," said Muhammad Masyhud, a senior official at the Ministry of Transportation.
"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," he said in a statement.
Indonesia, an archipelago nation with more than 17,000 islands, frequently relies on sea transport, but marine accidents remain a recurring concern due to safety challenges and unpredictable weather conditions.
Last month, a ferry carrying more than 70 people sank near Selayar, a small tropical island south of Sulawesi. At least four people were found dead, while 14 others remained missing when the search operation ended.
With AFP inputs