JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) 鈥� Crews rescued 211 people and recovered the body of a passenger from a ferry that caught fire in rough seas Wednesday near the Indonesian tourist island of , authorities said.
Videos released by the National Search and Rescue Agency showed people wearing life jackets crowding an inflatable life raft in choppy waters during a rescue operation at sea, as thick black smoke billows from the ferry.
The agency said that as of early Thursday, rescuers evacuated 211 people from the burned vessel, including seven foreign tourists, and recovered the body of a 19-year-old Indonesian woman.
The Putri Yasmin ferry was traveling from Bali to the neighboring island of Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara province when the fire broke out at about 4:15 a.m. Wednesday. The ferry was also transporting 44 vehicles and 53 motorcycles.
The Search and Rescue Office in Mataram, the capital of West Nusa Tenggara province, received an emergency report almost half an hour later and immediately deployed personnel and rescue vessels.
鈥淥ur top priority is the safety of all passengers and crew members,鈥� said Muhammad Hariyadi, who heads the Mataram Search and Rescue Office.
The search was continuing Thursday. Relatives who gathered in a post command center in the port reported at least five of their family members still unaccounted for. Their names were posted at the center as missing.
Initial reports said the ferry was carrying 131 people, including 17 crew members, based on the manifest, but officials said hours later that more people were aboard.
It is common in Indonesia for the number of passengers to differ from the manifest, but authorities have not said why the number of people evacuated was so much greater. Transportation Minister Dudy Purwagandhi said officials will look into the discrepancy.
鈥淭he findings will be thoroughly reviewed as part of the ministry鈥檚 evaluation,鈥� Purwagandhi said. 鈥淭his is a serious issue that will be thoroughly investigated.鈥�
He said the National Transportation Safety Committee investigators were determining the cause of the fire.
Syamsurizal, head of the Lembar Port Authority in Lombok, said that survivors told authorities the blaze appeared to have started in a cargo truck before quickly spreading through the ferry. The heat forced some passengers to jump into the sea, he said.
鈥淭he response operation is ongoing, and authorities are continuing to account for all victims,鈥� said Syamsurizal, who like many Indonesians uses a single name. He said at least two injured passengers were rushed to a nearby hospital.
Hariyadi said the rescue effort was supported by six vessels, a helicopter, two inflatable boats and two private yachts. He said rough seas with waves reported as high as 4 meters (13 feet) complicated rescue efforts.
The 62-meter (203-foot) ferry, built in Japan in 1992, can carry up to 220 passengers and 55 vehicles. It is primarily used to transport travelers and cargo between the Indonesian islands of Bali and Lombok, a journey that typically takes four to five hours.
Wednesday’s incident happened less than two weeks after another Indonesian ferry, caught fire in waters off the main island of Java, leaving at least five people dead.
Indonesia is of more than 17,000 islands where ferries are a common method of travel. regularly, with weak safety enforcement often blamed.
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Associated Press journalists Edna Tarigan and Andi Jatmiko in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.
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