Rescuers comb waters near Bali for 5 missing after ferry blaze

JAKARTA: Rescuers combed the Lombok Strait off Indonesia's Bali island on Thursday (Aug 13) for five people declared missing after a ferry fire that killed one and sent dozens of passengers scrambling overboard, officials said.

A total of 211 people were rescued alive and brought ashore by vessels that rushed to the scene on Wednesday, including a navy ship and another ferry in the vicinity.

A 19-year-old Indonesian woman was found dead.

By Thursday, the effort had shifted to "the search for five passengers" unaccounted for, the search and rescue office of Mataram on Lombok island said in a statement.

The ferry had been heading from Bali to Lombok when it ran into trouble in the early hours of Wednesday.

"In addition to direct searches, we have also instructed ships passing through the Lombok Strait to provide initial assistance or immediately inform the command post if they find any victims," the statement quoted search and rescue official Muhamad Hariyadi as saying.

Survivor Kiky Okta Pradika, 25, told reporters in Lembar on Lombok island on Wednesday that he had grabbed a life jacket before jumping overboard with several other passengers.

"There were a few hours before there was any help," he said.

Another survivor, 45-year-old Sutrisna, remembered passengers panicking and scrambling for life jackets as lifeboats were lowered from the stricken ferry.

"The evacuation was difficult because the waves were big, and when the rescue ship came, the waves were even bigger than the ferry we were on," said Sutrisna, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.

Marine accidents are a regular occurrence in Indonesia - an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands that relies heavily on boat connections for daily transport and tourism.

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

Five people died last week when a ferry caught fire off Java island.

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 people still officially missing.