At least five people have died and 41 others remain missing after a passenger ferry caught fire off the coast of Indonesia’s Madura Island, prompting a major search and rescue operation involving naval and civilian vessels.
The Mutiara Sentosa 2 ferry, carrying 271 passengers and crew, was sailing from Surabaya in East Java to Makassar in South Sulawesi when the blaze broke out early on Sunday.
Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) said 225 people had been rescued by Sunday afternoon, while efforts were continuing to locate those still unaccounted for.
The cause of the fire has yet to be established. Basarnas said the blaze erupted between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. local time.
About an hour later, the ferry operator, PT Atosim Lampung Pelayaran, alerted the Surabaya Search and Rescue Office after receiving a distress report from the vessel’s captain, who said the ferry was ablaze near the northern tip of Madura Island. Communication with the vessel was subsequently lost.
By 9.45 a.m., rescue authorities established that the ferry was approximately 19 nautical miles north of Buruan Sapudi Island after making contact with the nearby cargo vessel Meratus Project 3.
However, the ship was unable to assist because it was carrying a highly flammable cargo.
A tugboat and another passing vessel were the first to reach the scene, beginning the evacuation of passengers shortly before 10 a.m.
Several nearby ships later joined the operation, rescuing 225 people and recovering the bodies of five victims.
Basarnas dispatched a rescue vessel from Surabaya, although officials estimated it would take about six hours to reach the scene.
A rigid inflatable boat sent from the Sumenep rescue post was forced to turn back because of rough seas and high waves.
An Indonesian naval warship has also been deployed to support the ongoing search and rescue effort.
The 160-metre-long, 25-metre-wide ferry operates the Surabaya–Makassar route, a voyage of around 40 hours that is widely used by domestic passengers as well as cargo transport.
Maritime accidents remain a persistent challenge in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,500 islands where millions of people depend on sea transport for travel and commerce.
Only last month, rescue teams mounted another major operation after the vessel KM Nurul Salsa suffered engine failure and sank.
Five survivors, including a seven-year-old girl, were found several days after the incident.