The Cause of the Fire Was Not Immediately Known

Ferry Fire Off Indonesia Leaves Five Dead and 41 Missing At least five people have been killed and 41 are missing after a ferry caught fire off Indonesia's Madura Island on Sunday, the country's search and rescue agency said in a statement. The vessel, Mutiara Sentosa 2, was sailing eastwards from Java — from Surabaya in East Java province to Makassar in South Sulawesi — when the blaze broke out with 232 passengers and 39 crew members aboard. Dramatic footage showed thick black smoke billowing from the ferry as passengers wearing life jackets gathered on deck awaiting rescue.

By Sunday afternoon, 225 people had been rescued, and search and rescue crews continued to look for those still unaccounted for. The cause of the fire was not immediately known. Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, frequently experiences maritime accidents because of lax enforcement of safety regulations and unpredictable weather.