Five dead, 41 missing after Indonesian ferry catches fire
The ferry was carrying 271 passengers and crew members, 225 of whom have been rescued.
A ferry caught fire at sea off Indonesia's Madura island, resulting in five deaths and 41 individuals remaining missing, according to search and rescue officials. The incident occurred as the vessel transported 225 passengers from Surabaya in East Java to Makassar in South Sulawesi. Some passengers jumped into the sea and were later rescued by a nearby ship.
Four additional vessels were positioned near the stranded ferry but were unable to approach due to the hazardous flammable materials on board. The captain had notified the ferry company about the fire while the ship was en route, and they have since been unreachable. A large-scale rescue mission is currently en route from Surabaya, a six-hour journey away.
Senior officials from the Ministry of Transportation emphasized the utmost priority on passenger and crew safety, and are actively coordinating with all pertinent parties to facilitate a swift, secure, and efficient evacuation. Maritime accidents are a common occurrence in Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago comprising more than 17,000 islands, often attributed to lax safety regulations and unpredictable weather conditions.
In a separate incident last month, a ferry carrying over 70 passengers sank near Selayar, a small tropical island south of Sulawesi, resulting in at least four deaths and 14 people still missing after the search operation concluded.
Written by urgent.news from Free Malaysia Today's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
