Bali ferry fire: more than 100 rescued, official says

More than 100 people were rescued Wednesday from a ferry that caught fire off Bali while sailing to Lombok, Indonesian officials said.

The manifest listed at least 114 passengers and crew, though Muhamad Hariyadi, head of the search and rescue agency at Mataram on Lombok, said the total number of people on board was still being verified.

Hariyadi said passengers were evacuated on at least three vessels, including a navy ship and another ferry. Search and rescue vessels were at the scene, and a helicopter was monitoring the area from the air.

“As of now, we have not received any report of casualties,” Hariyadi told Metro TV. He said officials had approached the ferry and confirmed that all passengers were no longer on board.

Hariyadi later said a nearby ferry had evacuated 30 people and brought them to Bali, while a search and rescue agency vessel was heading to Lembar port in Lombok with 59 rescued passengers on board. A navy vessel picked up another 17 passengers.

The incident was the second ferry fire reported in Indonesia in days. Last week, five people died when a ferry caught fire off Java island.

Marine accidents are a regular occurrence in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands that relies heavily on boat connections. A ferry carrying more than 70 people sank near Selayar, south of Sulawesi, last month; four bodies were recovered, and the search ended with 14 others still officially missing.