Five people died on Sunday due to a fire aboard an Indonesian ferry, according to official reports. The national search and rescue agency announced that 41 other passengers are currently missing.
The vessel carried a minimum of 250 people when the fire started. The captain reported the blaze while the ferry was off the coast of Madura Island. The boat was traveling from Surabaya, the second-largest city in East Java, bound for Makassar in South Sulawesi.
Emergency responders released a video stating that the control center in Surabaya was alerted to the passenger ship’s fire around 8:30 AM local time (3:30 AM Central European Time). According to the shipping company, the fire broke out between 6 and 7 AM local time.
Later, authorities confirmed that the ferry was nearly engulfed in flames. Passengers reportedly held on to the bridge and the bow of the ship while awaiting rescue. Over 200 people were successfully rescued.
The cause of the fire remains unknown. Ship accidents are not uncommon in Indonesia, a country heavily reliant on seafaring and consisting of over 17,500 islands.
