Indonesia ferry fire: search on for missing after five die off Java

Rescuers are searching for missing passengers after a ferry caught fire off Java, killing at least five people. Conflicting passenger numbers have complicated the operation and renewed scrutiny of ferry safety in Indonesia.Rescuers in Indonesia searched on Monday for possible missing passengers after a ferry caught fire off the main island of Java a day earlier, leaving at least five people dead. Survivors said many people jumped into the sea and stayed afloat for hours before being picked up.Officials said 231 people had been rescued from the Mutiara Sentosa 2, which was travelling from Surabaya in East Java to Makassar in South Sulawesi. The number of missing was still unclear because more people appeared to have been on board than the 271 listed on the ship's manifest, including 39 crew members, and navy ships as well as passing vessels joined the rescue effort.Initial reports said the fire broke out between 6 am and 7 am when the vessel, carrying 180 vehicles, mostly trucks, was about 35 km north of Sapudi island in the Sumenep regency. Officials said they were relying on reports from the families of victims and survivors to work out how many people were missing. Nanang Sigit, the search mission coordinator and head of the Surabaya Search and Rescue Office, said differences between the number of passengers on board and the manifest are common in Indonesia and can make search and rescue efforts more difficult.Ahmad Abdul Karim, one of the survivors, 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, Azhari, said many people had just woken up when the fire broke out, apparently from the rear of the ferry. "The fire spread quickly to the middle of the vessel," he said in a television interview. "There was no other option for us 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 footage showed exhausted survivors on fishing boats and people retrieving bodies overnight, while relatives waited for information at a port and a local hospital. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Transport 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 is 160 metres long and can carry 689 passengers, 49 crew members and up to 181 vehicles. The Mutiara Sentosa 2 operates on the Surabaya-Makassar route, a journey of about 40 hours mainly used by domestic travellers and cargo traffic between Java and Sulawesi. As the search continued, officials were still trying to establish how many people were on board in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands where ferries are widely used, accidents occur regularly and weak safety enforcement is often blamed. With PTI Inputs- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Aug 3, 2026 17:46 IST