SURABAYA(National Times)-An Indonesian ferry caught fire at sea on Sunday, killing five people and leaving another 41 missing after some jumped overboard, search and rescue officials said.
A total of 225 people on the vessel were rescued, said the regional Surabaya Search and Rescue Agency, which provided the latest figures in an afternoon update.
Some passengers jumped into the sea and were picked up by a nearby ship, according to Basarnas, Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency.
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.
The captain had called the ferry company to report the fire as the vessel sailed from Surabaya in East Java to Makassar in South Sulawesi. He had not been in contact since then, Basarnas said.
A larger rescue operation was heading to the site from Surabaya, a six-hour journey from the site of the disaster, Basarnas said.
“Based on preliminary reports from the field, passengers are waiting to be evacuated by the vessels in the vicinity of the incident site,” said a senior official at the Ministry of Transportation.
