Jakarta Globe, Fidelis Satriantanti & AFP | January 28, 2011
 |
| Port officials carry a ferry fire survivor at port in Merak, Banten province, Indonesia, Friday, Jan. 28, 2011. A transportation ministry spokesman said the ferry carrying hundreds of passengers has caught fire in Indonesia early Friday. (AP Photo) |
Related articles
At least 11 people were killed when a fire broke out on a ferry caught fire traveling between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra overnight, the transportation ministry said Friday.
The ferry caught fire in the Sunda Strait, about three kilometers from the port of Merak at the westernmost tip of Java, at around 3.30am.
"11 people have been killed, and 427 people have survived. We don't know how many people are missing, hopefully there are none,” the transportation ministry's director for maritime passenger services Wiratno said.
The survivors had abandoned the ferry wearing life jackets.
Joko Sulaksono the ministry's directorate general of land transportation said many passengers were transferred to Krakatau Medika hospital in Cilegon near Merak for treatment.
Joko said a vehicle inside the ferry was the suspected source of the fire.
The Indonesian archipelago of more than 17,000 islands is heavily dependent on ferry services but the industry has a poor safety record and fatal accidents are common.
Up to 335 people were killed when a heavily overloaded ferry sank off the island of Sulawesi in January 2009.
