Ferry Fire Off Madura Kills Five and Leaves 41 Missing

Overview

• The Mutiara Sentosa 2 caught fire off Madura while sailing from Surabaya to Makassar on Sunday and was carrying about 271 people.
• Indonesia’s national search-and-rescue agency, Basarnas, says rescuers have recovered 225 people, confirmed five deaths and reported 41 people still missing.
• Rescue efforts involve multiple nearby vessels and Basarnas teams, but some boats could not approach immediately because of flammable material on board and larger assets are coming from Surabaya about six hours away.
• Some passengers jumped into the sea and were picked up by a passing commercial ship while others were pulled from the water by rescue crews.
• Officials have not determined the cause, and the crash feeds wider concerns about lax safety enforcement and operational risks that regularly affect ferry travel in Indonesia.