JAKARTA — One person died and more than 200 people were rescued after a passenger ferry traveling from Bali to Lombok caught fire in the Lombok Strait early on Wednesday, Indonesian authorities said, prompting a large-scale evacuation in rough seas.
The KM Putri Yasmin was sailing from Padangbai port in Bali to Lembar port in West Nusa Tenggara when the fire broke out at about 4:15 a.m. local time, according to the Mataram Search and Rescue Office. The agency said 212 people had been evacuated to ports in Bali and Lombok, while a 19-year-old Indonesian woman was confirmed dead.
Rescue teams deployed multiple vessels and more than 200 personnel to the operation. Rough seas complicated the evacuation, with authorities using rescue boats and other vessels to move passengers away from the burning ferry. Seven foreign tourists were among those rescued, according to the National Search and Rescue Agency.
Authorities have not established the cause of the fire. Early reports indicated the blaze may have originated near a vehicle carried aboard the ferry, but officials had not confirmed that account.
The number of people aboard the vessel was also under scrutiny. An official at Padangbai port said the ferry's manifest listed 114 passengers and 17 crew members, a total of 131 people. The number subsequently rescued was substantially higher, prompting Indonesia's transport authorities to investigate the discrepancy.
The ferry was also carrying dozens of vehicles and motorcycles. Authorities said the vessel was built in Japan in 1992 and had capacity for 220 passengers and 55 vehicles.
The incident came less than a month after another Indonesian passenger ferry, the KM Mutiara Sentosa 2, caught fire off Madura Island, killing five people. The latest accident has renewed attention on safety practices in Indonesia, an archipelago where ferries are widely used for inter-island travel.
Authorities continued assessing the incident and investigating the cause of the fire and the discrepancy in the ferry's passenger records.
