At least five people have died and dozens more are feared missing after a ferry carrying hundreds of passengers caught fire off the coast of Indonesia. The Mutiara Sentosa 2 ferry ignited between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. local time on Sunday, August 2, off the coast of Madura island, located northeast of Java.
The vessel was traveling from Surabaya to Makassar city with 271 passengers and crew aboard when the fire began, according to Indonesia's national search and rescue agency, Basarnas. As of Sunday afternoon, a search operation had located 225 individuals, and five bodies had been recovered.
The ferry's operator, PT Atosim Lampung Pelayaran, reported the incident to the Surabaya search and rescue office approximately one hour after the fire started. The ferry's captain had communicated the fire while approaching the northern tip of Madura island, but contact was subsequently lost. At 9:45 a.m., the ship was approximately 19 nautical miles north of Buruan Sapudi island and made contact with the nearby cargo ship Meratus Project 3.
The Meratus Project 3 was unable to provide assistance due to its flammable cargo. Shortly before 10 a.m., another passing vessel and a tugboat began evacuating passengers from the burning ferry. An Indonesian naval warship was dispatched to the scene, and a rescue vessel from Surabaya was also en route, though officials estimated its arrival would take around six hours.
The Mutiara Sentosa 2, measuring 160 meters long and 25 meters wide, typically serves the Surabaya-Makassar route, a common passage for domestic travelers and cargo that usually takes 40 hours.
Maritime accidents are frequent in Indonesia, an archipelago of over 17,500 islands, due to its heavy reliance on water transportation. In the preceding month, a separate ferry sinking off the coast of Bali resulted in four confirmed deaths. That vessel, carrying 65 people and 22 vehicles, reportedly suffered a critical engine room leak, leading to a complete power failure and capsizing on a 50-kilometer journey.