JAKARTA — Indonesian authorities rescued 172 people on Wednesday after a ferry travelling from Bali to Lombok caught fire in the Lombok Strait, with one Indonesian confirmed dead, local rescue officials said.
The KM Putri Yasmin was travelling from Padangbai port in Bali to Lembar port in West Nusa Tenggara when the incident occurred at about 4:39 a.m. local time, said Muhammad Hariyadi, head of the local rescue agency.
By Wednesday afternoon, 172 people had been evacuated to ports in Bali and Lombok, Hariyadi said. One of those rescued was an Australian national, while the remainder were Indonesian. More than 200 personnel were deployed in the rescue operation, with boats sent to evacuate passengers and coordinate with vessels near the scene.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known, and authorities had not established whether overcrowding contributed to the incident. An official at Padangbai port, Heri Wiyanto, said the ferry's manifest listed 114 passengers and 17 crew members, fewer than the number of people eventually rescued.
The incident occurred less than a month after another Indonesian ferry, KM Mutiara Sentosa 2, caught fire off Madura island, killing five people. That vessel also carried more people than recorded on its manifest.
Authorities were continuing to assess the situation and determine whether any other passengers remained unaccounted for.
