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Indonesia completes ferry fire rescue operation, five dead, agency says

August 4, 2026 5:54 AM EDT

Rescue team members carry the body of a victim of the Mutiara Sentosa 2 ferry that caught fire off Indonesia's Madura island, at Tanjung Perak port, in Surabaya, East Java province, Indonesia, August 3, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer

SURABAYA, Indonesia, Aug 4 (Reuters) - ‌Indonesian rescuers ​have ​evacuated 233 of the 238 passengers and crew trapped on a ferry that caught fire off the country's ‌Madura island on Sunday, the search and rescue agency ⁠said on Tuesday, with the total death toll at five.

Here are the details:

• ‌The KM Mutiara Sentosa ‌2 was travelling from Indonesia's second-largest city of Surabaya in East Java province to Makassar city in South Sulawesi before it ​caught fire on Sunday, authorities had said.

• Mohammad Syafii, chief of the country's search and rescue agency, told reporters ⁠that rescuers determined that the total number of people in the ferry's manifest stood at ​238, including both passengers and crew members.

• Authorities said earlier on Monday that the total number of ​passengers and crew stood at 271.

• ‌A total of five people died in the accident, Syafii said.

• An investigation into the cause of ⁠the fire is underway, Syafii added.

• While all the passengers and crew on the manifest have been accounted for, authorities may resume the ⁠search if there are family reports of relatives who have not been found, ​Syafii said.

• All clad in life jackets, the passengers were stranded for hours at sea, while some fell into the water from a 10-metre ‌height, Syafii said.

• Indonesia, an archipelago of around 17,000 islands, relies heavily on ferries as a key ‌mode of transportation, with sea routes more affordable and readily available ⁠than air travel.

• However, ‌safety standards are not ​always strictly enforced, and accidents are relatively frequent.

(Reporting by Prasto Wardoyo; Writing by Stanley Widianto; Editing by ‌David Stanway)



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