3 dead, hundreds rescued after Indonesian passenger ferry catches fire at sea

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MANADO, Indonesia — The number of people saved from an Indonesian passenger ferry that caught fire at sea rose to 575, rescuers said Monday, but three died and two remained missing. 

The KM Barcelona V-A caught fire around midday Sunday while making its regular half-day journey between two ports in North Sulawesi province, from Melonguane to Manado , according to First Adm. Franky Pasuna Sihombing, chief of the Manado navy base. 

A coast guard ship, six rescue vessels and several inflatable boats were deployed in the rescue operation, Sihombing said. The crews pulled many people from the sea and took them to nearby islands, and local fishermen also saved some survivors wearing life jackets as they were drifting in the choppy waters. 

Photos and videos circulated on social media showed terrified passengers, mostly wearing life jackets, jumping into the sea as orange flames and black smoke billowed from the burning vessel. 

Authorities are still investigating the cause of the fire that began in the ferry’s stern and was extinguished within an hour, Sihombing said. 

The ferry’s manifest initially registered only 280 passengers and 15 crew members, but by Monday afternoon Manado’s Search and Rescue Agency confirmed 575 survivors had been rescued, including a 2-month-old baby whose lungs were filled with seawater. The baby is now in a stable condition at a hospital. 

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Three bodies recovered, including a pregnant woman, and rescuers are searching for two passengers reportedly still missing, said the agency in a statement. 

It is common for the number of passengers on a boat or ferry to differ from the manifest in Indonesia. This discrepancy can contribute to accidents and can complicate search and rescue efforts, Sihombing said. 

The capacity of the ferry is 600 people. 

Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands where ferries are a common method of travel. Disasters occur regularly, with weak safety enforcement often blamed. 

A speedboat carrying 18 people capsized during a storm July 14, and all its occupants were found rescued by the next day. Earlier in the month, a ferry sank near Indonesia’s resort island of Bali, leaving at least 19 dead and 16 others missing. A two-week search operation involved more than 600 rescuers, three navy ships, 15 boats, a helicopter and divers. 

— Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.