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Five people have died, and 41 others are missing after an Indonesian ferry caught fire at sea on Sunday, with some passengers jumping overboard, search and rescue officials said.
A total of 225 people aboard the vessel were rescued, according to the Surabaya Search and Rescue Agency, which released updated figures on Sunday afternoon.
Some passengers escaped by jumping into the sea and were later picked up by a nearby vessel, Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency, Basarnas, said.
Four other vessels were standing by near the ferry but could not approach because of the risk posed by flammable materials aboard the vessel.
The ferry was travelling from Surabaya in East Java to Makassar in South Sulawesi when its captain contacted the company to report the fire, Basarnas said. The captain has not been heard from since.
A larger rescue operation was being deployed from Surabaya to the scene, a journey of about six hours.
Muhammad Masyhud, a senior official at the Ministry of Transportation, said passengers were waiting to be evacuated by vessels near the site and that authorities were coordinating the operation to ensure their safe and rapid evacuation.
“Based on preliminary reports from the field, passengers are waiting to be evacuated by the vessels in the vicinity of the incident site,” Muhammad Masyhud said.
“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.
Ferry accidents are common in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, where safety standards and unpredictable weather have contributed to repeated maritime disasters.
Last month, a ferry carrying more than 70 people sank near Selayar, a small island south of Sulawesi. At least four people died, while 14 others remained missing when the search ended.
