5 dead , 41 missing after Indonesian ferry catches fire , authorities say

Search and rescue is working to rescue people from the water after the ferry carrying 250 people caught fire. Some passengers jumped into the sea and were picked up by a nearby ship. A total of 225 people on the vessel were rescued, said the regional Surabaya Search and Rescue Agency, which provided the latest figures in an afternoon update.

Search and rescue officials report some 41 missing after a fire on a ferry near the Indonesia island of Madura. The cause of the blaze remains unclear. A search and rescue team being briefed after a deadly fire on a ferry, off Indonesia's Madura island, in Surabaya, where five people died and another 41 remain missing.

(Reuters pic)JAKARTA: An Indonesian ferry caught fire at sea on Sunday, killing five people and leaving another 41 missing after some jumped overboard, search and rescue officials said.A total of 225 people on the vessel were rescued, said the regional Surabaya Search and Rescue Agency, which provided the latest figures in an afternoon update.Some passengers jumped into the sea and were picked up by a nearby ship, according to Basarnas, Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency.Four other vessels were on standby near the ferry but could not approach because of the risk posed by flammable material on the ferry, it said.The captain had called the ferry company to report the fire as the vessel sailed from Surabaya in East Java to Makassar in South Sulawesi, Basarnas said.The captain had not been in contact since then, it said.A larger rescue operation was heading to the site from Surabaya, a six-hour journey from the site of the disaster, Basarnas said."Based on preliminary reports from the field, passengers are waiting to be evacuated by the vessels in the vicinity of the incident site," said Muhammad Masyhud, a senior official at the Ministry of Transportation."The safety of passengers and crew is our top priority. We are continuously coordinating with all relevant parties to ensure that the evacuation process can proceed quickly, safely, and effectively," he said in a statement.Marine accidents are a regular occurrence in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, partly due to lax safety standards and unpredictable weather.A ferry transporting more than 70 people sank last month while sailing near Selayar, a small tropical island south of the much larger Sulawesi.At least four people were found dead, and 14 others remained missing until the end of the search operation. Five people have been found dead and 41 are missing after an Indonesian ferry with 271 people on board caught fire while at sea on Sunday, search and rescue officials said.

At least five people have died and 41 are missing after a ferry caught fire off the coast of an Indonesian island, officials have said. The vessel with at least 250 people on board caught fire off Madura island.