Jakarta.- Five people died and another 41 are still being searched for this Sunday in Indonesia after a fire was reported on a ferry with more than 200 passengers in the middle of the sea in the province of East Java, about 700 kilometers east of Jakarta, authorities of the archipelago reported.
Indonesian emergency services explained that as of 4:00 p.m. local time (9:00 GMT), relief teams deployed in the area, near the island of Madura, had confirmed the death of five people who were on board the Mutiara Sentosa 2 and the rescue of another 225 alive.
Furthermore, in the same reports sent to journalists, the rescuers put the total number of people who had not yet been rescued at 41, while the flames continued to consume the enormous vessel, as shown in the images released by the Asian country’s Ministry of Transport.
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In a press release, the Government indicated that the ship was sailing from Surabaya to Makassar when it detected the fire that has been spreading through a good part of the vessel, from which some people jumped into the water, according to videos published by rescuers.
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Some of these survivors swam to the six boats that approached the scene of the accident, where they are still trying to rescue the rest of the passengers and crew, with the causes of the fire remaining unclear for the moment.
So far, the passenger list for the Mutiara Sentosa 2, which covered a route used mostly by Indonesians residing in East Java, has not been published.
Maritime accidents are common in Indonesia due to poor infrastructure, overloading of passengers and goods, lax compliance with safety regulations, and inclement weather.
In July 2025, another ferry with 580 people on board caught fire in the North Sulawesi province, an incident that left three dead and caused dozens of passengers to jump into the sea to escape the flames.
The boat is one of the main means of transport in the Indonesian archipelago, which is made up of more than 17,000 islands and has a population of over 270 million inhabitants.
