At least five people have died and 41 are still missing after an Indonesian ferry caught fire at sea, on Sunday. According according to Basarnas, Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency some passengers jumped overboard to escape the fire and were rescued by a nearby ship.
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Meanwhile, a total of 225 people onboard were rescued, and four other boats were on standby near the ferry, however they could not get close due to the risk posed by flammable material on the ferry, said the regional Surabaya Search and Rescue Agency.
The ferry company had received a call from the ship’s captain to report the fire as it sailed from Surabaya in East Java to Makassar in South Sulawesi.
However, Basarnas said the captain had not been in contact after that, adding that a larger rescue operation was on its way from Surabaya, a six-hour journey from the site of the disaster.
Muhammad Masyhud, a senior official at the Ministry of Transportation said in a statement: “Based on preliminary reports from the field, passengers are waiting to be evacuated by the vessels in the vicinity of the incident site.”
Adding, “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”.
Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, experiences marine accidents frequently, in some parts due to a lack of following of the safety standards and unpredictable weather.
Last month at least four people died and 14 remained missing until search and rescue operations concluded after a ferry transporting more than 70 people sank while sailing near the small tropical island of Selayar south of the much larger Sulawesi.
