Navy vessel, other ships rescue more than 100 from ferry fire off Bali

MATARAM, Aug 12 — A navy vessel and other ships rushed in todayto rescue over 100 people from a ferry on fire off the Indonesian tourist island of Bali, officials said, in the second such incident in days.

There were no immediate reports of casualties among the passengers and crew, with at least 114 people on board, according to the manifest.

The passenger ferry had been sailing from Bali to the adjacent island of Lombok when it caught fire in the early morning.

Muhamad Hariyadi, head of the search and rescue agency at Mataram on Lombok, said passengers were evacuated on at least three different vessels, including a navy ship and another ferry.

Search and rescue vessels were at the scene and a helicopter was conducting surveillance from the air.

“As of now, we have not received any report of casualties,” Hariyadi told Metro TV.

“We have approached the ship and confirmed that all passengers are no longer on board,” he added. “We visually see no passengers on the ship.”

In a statement later, Hariyadi said a ferry in the vicinity had evacuated 30 people and brought them to Bali, while a search and rescue agency vessel was on its way to Lembar port in Lombok with 59 rescued passengers on board.

A navy vessel picked up another 17 passengers.

Hariyadi said the total number of passengers on board the stricken ferry was still being verified.

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.

Lax safety standards and unpredictable weather are the main reasons for the disasters.

A ferry transporting more than 70 people sank while sailing near Selayar, a small island south of Sulawesi, last month.

Four bodies were recovered, but the search operation ended with 14 others still officially missing. — AFP