At least five dead, 41 missing after ferry catches fire off Indonesia

At least five people have been killed and 41 are missing after a ferry caught fire off Indonesia’s Madura Island, the country’s search and rescue agency ⁠said in a statement.

The vessel, the Mutiara Sentosa 2, caught fire on Sunday while travelling from Surabaya in East Java province to Makassar in South Sulawesi. Madura Island lies off the northeastern coast of Java.

Dramatic footage showed thick black smoke billowing from the ferry as passengers wearing life jackets gathered on deck awaiting rescue.

The ferry was carrying 232 passengers and 39 crew members. By Sunday afternoon, 225 people had been rescued.

A search and rescue operation was continuing, with authorities working to locate those still unaccounted for. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, frequently experiences maritime accidents, in part because of lax enforcement of safety regulations and unpredictable weather.