Indonesia Ferry Fire: Five Dead, 41 Missing - 225 Rescued As Search Op Continues Off Madura Island

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Five people were killed, and another 41 are missing after an Indonesian ferry caught fire at sea on Sunday. According to search and rescue officials, some people jumped overboard to save themselves, and 41 of them are unaccounted for.

As many as 225 people on the vessel were rescued, news agency AFP reported, citing the regional Surabaya Search and Rescue Agency.

Basarnas, Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency, said that some passengers who jumped into the sea were picked up by a nearby ship.

Four other vessels were on standby near the ferry but could not approach because of the risk posed by flammable material on the ferry, it said.

Also Read | Massive fire engulfs ferry in Indonesia, people jump into sea to save lives What happened?

According to the AFP report, Basarnas said, the captain of the Indonesian ferry on fire had called the ferry company to report the fire as the vessel sailed from Surabaya in East Java to Makassar in South Sulawesi.

The captain had not been in contact since then.

The Indonesian rescue agency said a larger rescue operation was heading to the site from Surabaya, a six-hour journey from the disaster site.

"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, a senior official at the Ministry of Transportation, told AFP

"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.

Also Read | Lucky escape for 284 people as Indonesia ship catches fire, five killed - Video Indonesia is no stranger to marine accidents

Marine accidents are a regular occurrence in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, partly due to lax safety standards and unpredictable weather.

A ferry transporting more than 70 people sank last month while sailing near Selayar, a small tropical island south of the much larger Sulawesi. At least four people were found dead, and 14 others remained missing until the end of the search operation.

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