On Sunday, authorities reported that one person was missing in Indonesia after a fire broke out in a ferry that evacuated 274 other people on board.
The KM Karya Indah He was on his way to the town of Senana, in the Moluccas Archipelago, when the fire broke out, forcing some of the passengers to jump into the water.
“There were 275 people on board, of whom 274 were safely evacuated,” Mohamed Arafa, head of the rescue operation, told Kompas TV. “We are still looking for a 43-year-old man.”
He said at least 35 of the passengers were children.
Rescuers broadcast beautiful pictures of the ferry amid a cloud of black smoke, as passengers stood nearby on the lifeboats.
About ten crew members were arrested as part of an investigation to determine the cause of the fire.
Marine accidents are frequent in Indonesia due to the lack of maintenance of boats, which are a popular means of transportation to move between the 17,000 islands and islets.
In 2018, nearly 160 people drowned when a ferry sank in Lake Toba, on the island of Sumatra.
In 2009, more than 300 people died when a ferry sank between Celebes and Borneo.
