Search continues for missing after Indonesia ferry fire kills 5

Indonesian rescuers searched for possible missing passengers Monday, August 3, after rescuing 231 people from a ferry that caught fire the previous day off the main island of Java, leaving at least five people dead.

The Mutiara Sentosa 2 was traveling from Indonesia's second-largest city, Surabaya in East Java, to Makassar in South Sulawesi when the fire broke out between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. Initial reports said the ferry was carrying 271 people, including 39 crew members, based on the ship's manifest.

However, by Monday, officials said many more people were aboard than listed, and the number of missing remained unclear. 

Officials were relying on reports from victims' families and survivors to determine the number of missing, said Nanang Sigit, the search mission coordinator who also heads the Surabaya Search and Rescue Office. 

He said it is common in Indonesia for the number of passengers on a boat or ferry to differ from the manifest, and such discrepancies can complicate search and rescue efforts.

The cause of the fire remained under investigation. Indonesian navy ships and several passing vessels assisted at the scene, located about 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of Sapudi island in the Sumenep regency. The vessel was also carrying 180 vehicles, mostly trucks.

Survivor Ahmad Abdul Karim said the fire appeared to have started in a truck on the lower vehicle deck. "Fanned by the wind, the flames spread extremely quickly," Karim said. "In less than 30 minutes, everyone had been instructed to move to the bow of the ferry."

Another passenger, who goes by the single name Azhari, said many passengers had just woken up when the fire erupted, apparently from the rear of the ferry. 

"The fire spread quickly to the middle of the vessel," Azhari said in a television interview, adding that passengers had no option but to jump into the sea. He said passengers were in the water for about four hours before passing vessels began pulling them to safety.

Television news showed exhausted survivors on fishing boats retrieving bodies overnight, while grieving relatives waited for information at a port and a local hospital.

Transportation Minister Dudy Purwagandhi said the government would review the performance of the ferry operator, Atosim Lampung Pelayaran, after the National Transportation Safety Committee, or KNKT, completes its investigation. "First we need to determine the cause based on KNKT's findings," Purwagandhi said.

The ferry was built in Japan in 1992 and sold to Indonesia in 2015. It measures 160 meters (525 feet) and can accommodate 689 passengers and 49 crew, along with up to 181 vehicles. The Mutiara Sentosa 2 serves the Surabaya-Makassar route, a voyage that typically takes around 40 hours and is used mainly by domestic travelers and cargo transport between Java and Sulawesi.

Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands where ferries are a common mode of travel, and disasters occur regularly, with weak safety enforcement often blamed.

(Sourced through PTI)