SURABAYA, Indonesia: All survivors of a passenger ferry that caught fire off Indonesia’s Java island over the weekend have been accounted for, an official said Tuesday, confirming five dead in the incident.
The total number of passengers and crew recovered — dead or alive — matched the manifest of the ferry that left the port of Surabaya on Sunday, National Search and Rescue Agency head Mohammad Syafii told reporters, as the the last rescue vessel returned carrying 62 people.
The ferry was about six hours into its journey from Surabaya — Indonesia’s second-largest city — to Makassar on the neighboring island of Sulawesi when it ran into trouble.
On Monday, survivors told reporters they had heard multiple blasts moments before a fire broke out, prompting those on board to jump into the sea.
“From the information that we got, all the victims wore life jackets. So out of 238 victims who jumped into the sea, we were able to evacuate all of them,” said Mohammad, counting both survivors and fatalities.
