Videos released by the National Search and Rescue Agency showed people wearing life jackets crowding an inflatable life raft in choppy waters during a rescue operation at sea, as thick black smoke billows from the ferry.
The agency said that as of early Thursday, rescuers evacuated 211 people from the burnt vessel, including seven foreign tourists, and recovered the body of a 19-year-old Indonesian woman.
The Putri Yasmin ferry was travelling from Bali to the neighbouring island of Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara province when the fire broke out at about 4:15am on Wednesday. The ferry was also transporting 44 vehicles and 53 motorcycles.
The Search and Rescue Office in Mataram, the capital of West Nusa Tenggara province, received an emergency report almost half an hour later and immediately deployed personnel and rescue vessels.
The search was continuing on Thursday. Relatives who gathered in a post command centre in the port reported at least five of their family members still unaccounted for. Their names were posted at the centre as missing.
Syamsurizal, head of the Lembar Port Authority in Lombok, said that survivors told authorities the blaze appeared to have started in a cargo truck before quickly spreading through the ferry. The heat forced some passengers to jump into the sea, he said.
The 62-metre ferry was built in Japan in 1992 and can carry up to 220 passengers and 55 vehicles.
Wednesday’s incident happened less than two weeks after another Indonesian ferry, the Mutiara Sentosa 2, caught fire in waters off the main island of Java, leaving at least five people dead. (AP)
