Five people have been found dead and 41 are missing after an Indonesian ferry carrying 271 people caught fire while at sea, officials said. The captain of the ship reported the fire off Madura island as the vessel sailed from Surabaya in East Java to Makassar in South Sulawesi, according to Basarnas, the National Search and Rescue Agency.
Footage played by local Indonesian news outlet iNews shows large numbers of people in life jackets on what appears to be a lifeboat. Other clips show people climbing down from the ferry as flames and plumes of smoke rise from the top of the vessel.
Basarnas posted a video to its TikTok, along with a statement saying that at 08:24 (02:24 GMT) the Surabaya Search and Rescue office received information that passenger ship KMP Mutiara Sentosa 2 was on fire.
"Based on information from the shipping company, the fire occurred at around 06:00-07:00 (00:00-01:00 GMT)."
Later, Basarnas said it received confirmation the ferry
"was almost entirely engulfed in flames"as
"passengers held on in the ship's bridge and bow while awaiting rescue".
