Manado, Indonesia: Terrified passengers jumped into the sea from an Indonesian passenger ferry as flames leapt high and black smoke billowed from the burning vessel.
Search crews said three people died and more than 560 were rescued.
Authorities initially said five people were killed, but early on Monday the National Search and Rescue Agency revised it to three, after two passengers who’d initially been reported as dead were found safe in a hospital – including a two-month-old baby whose lungs had been filled with seawater.
Photos and videos circulated on social media showed passengers – mostly wearing life jackets – jumping into the sea and being rescued.
The KM Barcelona 5 caught fire on Sunday afternoon AEST while heading to Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi province.
It was on its regular half-day journey from Melonguane port in Talaud Islands district in the same province, according to First Admiral Franky Pasuna Sihombing, chief of the Manado navy base.
A coast guard ship, six rescue vessels and several inflatable boats were deployed in the rescue operation, Sihombing said.
The crews pulled many people from the sea and took them to nearby islands. Local fishermen also saved some survivors wearing life jackets and drifting in the choppy waters.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or people still missing.
The fire that began in the ferry’s stern was extinguished within an hour, Sihombing said.
The ferry’s manifest initially registered only 280 passengers and 15 crew members, but the national rescue agency confirmed 568 survivors had been rescued and three bodies recovered, including a pregnant woman.
In Indonesia, it is common for the number of passengers on a boat or ferry to differ from the manifest. This discrepancy can contribute to accidents and complicate search and rescue efforts, Sihombing said.
Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands where ferries are a common method of travel. Disasters occur regularly, with weak safety enforcement often blamed.
A speedboat carrying 18 people capsized during a storm on July 14. All its occupants were rescued by the next day.
Smoke billows from passenger ferry KM Barcelona 5 after it caught fire in the waters off North Sulawesi on Sunday.Credit: AP/Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency
Earlier in the month, a ferry sank near Indonesia’s resort island of Bali, leaving at least 19 dead and 16 missing. The two-week search operation involved more than 600 rescuers, three navy ships, 15 boats, a helicopter and divers.
AP
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