Crews rescued 172 people and recovered the body of a passenger from a ferry that caught fire in rough seas Wednesday near the Indonesian tourist island of Bali, authorities said.
The fire started about 4:15 a.m. while the Putri Yasmin ferry was en route from Padang Bai port in Bali to Lembar port on the neighboring island of Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara province, according to the search and rescue office in Mataram, the provincial capital.
The agency received an emergency report almost half an hour later and immediately deployed personnel and rescue vessels.
“Our top priority is the safety of all passengers and crew members,” said Muhammad Hariyadi, who heads the Mataram Search and Rescue Office.
Initial reports said the ferry was carrying 131 people, including 17 crew members, based on the ship’s manifest, when the fire broke out in the Lombok Strait.
However, hours after the incident, officials said more people were aboard than listed. The National Search and Rescue Agency, or Basarnas, said rescuers evacuated 172 people from the burned vessel, including 2 Australian tourists, and recovered the body of a 19-year-old Indonesian girl.
It is common in Indonesia for the number of passengers on a boat or ferry to differ from the manifest.
The ferry was also transporting 44 vehicles and 53 motorcycles.
Syamsurizal, head of the Lembar Port Authority, said at least two injured passengers were rushed to a nearby hospital.
“The response operation is ongoing, and authorities are continuing to account for all victims,” said Syamsurizal, who like many Indonesians uses a single name.
Head of the Mataram SAR Office, Muhammad Hariyadi, said the passengers were rescued by vessels belonging to the SAR agency, the Indonesian Navy, and the KMP Port Link—a ferry regularly serves the Lembar Port-Padangbai Port route. “We deployed KN 220 Mataram, a Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB), and a Rigid Buoyancy Boat (RBB) to the location to conduct the evacuation and coordinate with other vessels in the vicinity,” Hariyadi remarked on Wednesday.
He mentioned 30 passengers were evacuated via KMP Port Link to Padangbai, 59 were evacuated by KN SAR Arjuna 220 to Lembar Port, and 17 were evacuated by a Navy vessel to Lembar.
Meanwhile, SGi Air Bali deployed a helicopter for aerial monitoring and searching activities.
Hariyadi said the rescue effort was supported by Indonesian navy ships, patrol boats and rescue vessels, and a helicopter to make an aerial survey. He said rough seas with waves reported as high as 4 meters (13 feet) complicated rescue efforts.
The evacuation process involved the Indonesian Navy, West Lombok Police, Water and Air Police (Polairud), Lembar Port Harbormaster, the KMP PortLink II, passing yachts, and local fishermen.
In the viral moment that preceded this broader tragedy, Wednesday’s incident happened less than two weeks after another Indonesian ferry caught fire off Java island.
An Indonesian ferry carrying 271 people caught fire in waters off the main island of Java on Sunday, leaving at least five people dead and dozens missing as rescuers and passing vessels evacuated hundreds from the burning ship, officials said.
The Mutiara Sentosa 2 ferry was traveling from Indonesia’s second-largest city of Surabaya in East Java to the city of Makassar in South Sulawesi, with 232 passengers, 39 crew members and 181 vehicles, mostly trucks, and an excavator, when the fire broke out between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. in waters off Sumenep regency.
By Monday morning officials said many more people were aboard than listed, and that the number of people still missing was unclear after 229 people were rescued and five bodies recovered.
Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands where ferries are a common method of travel. Disasters occur regularly, with weak safety enforcement often blamed.