Five people were killed after the passenger ferry KMP Mutiara Sentosa 2 caught fire off Indonesia’s East Java province, while authorities continued search, rescue and verification efforts Monday to account for everyone believed to have been on board during the voyage from Surabaya to Makassar.
As of 9:41 a.m. local time Monday, the Surabaya Search and Rescue Office said 229 people had been rescued while five fatalities had been confirmed. Rescue teams were still working to reconcile the official passenger manifest with the number of survivors evacuated by nearby vessels, leaving uncertainty over whether additional passengers remained missing.
According to acting Sumenep Police public information chief Ipda Ardan, the ferry was carrying 271 people based on the official manifest, including 232 passengers and 39 crew members.
The vessel caught fire Sunday morning while sailing through waters off Sumenep Regency in East Java. The emergency quickly escalated into a large-scale maritime rescue operation involving government agencies, commercial ships and tugboats operating in the area.
Earlier Sunday, Surabaya SAR operations chief Didit Arie Ristandy said dozens of people had yet to be evacuated as rescue efforts continued.
“The evacuation process is still ongoing, and based on the latest information, approximately 40 to 45 passengers had not yet been evacuated,” Didit said.
Transportation Minister Dudy Purwagandhi said the government’s immediate priority was verifying the identities and number of survivors by comparing the ferry company’s official passenger manifest with evacuation records collected from multiple rescue vessels.
“All of the rescue vessels are returning here, and we will compare their data with the company’s passenger manifest to determine whether everyone has been evacuated or whether further search operations are still necessary,” Dudy said.
He explained that the verification process was particularly challenging because several rescue vessels were still traveling to port while experiencing communication difficulties caused by limited signal coverage at sea. Authorities also had to account for passengers who were transferred between vessels during the rescue operation.
The government pledged to complete the verification process carefully to eliminate discrepancies between administrative records and the actual number of people rescued or still unaccounted for.
According to the Surabaya Search and Rescue Office, the first report of the fire came from the ferry’s captain at approximately 6 a.m. Sunday through the shipping company.
“After that initial report, the captain could no longer be contacted,” Surabaya SAR chief Nanang Sigit said, according to Indonesia’s Antara News Agency.
The rescue agency officially received notification of the emergency at 8:24 a.m. from Tanjung Perak Harbor authorities before immediately coordinating to determine the vessel’s last known position.
At approximately 9:45 a.m., the crew of the cargo vessel Meratus Project 3 reported locating the burning ferry about 19 nautical miles north of Burung Island near Sapudi. However, the cargo ship was unable to approach because it was transporting highly flammable materials.
By the time rescuers established visual contact, much of the ferry’s structure had already been engulfed in flames. Passengers initially gathered on the bridge and bow while waiting for assistance to arrive.
As conditions deteriorated, many people abandoned the vessel by jumping into the sea shortly after 10:20 a.m.
“Several passengers jumped into the water and were rescued by tugboat Hasnur 26 and the vessel British Mentor. Four ships were operating near the scene,” Nanang said in the SAR report.
The Surabaya SAR Office estimated it would take approximately six hours for the state rescue vessel KN SAR 249 Permadi to reach the disaster site because of the distance from its deployment location.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Transportation said the safety of passengers and crew remained the government’s highest priority throughout the operation.
“The safety of passengers and crew members is our primary concern. We continue coordinating with all relevant agencies to ensure the evacuation process proceeds quickly, safely and effectively,” Director General of Sea Transportation Muhammad Masyhud said in a written statement.
The ministry deployed the Coast Guard patrol vessel KN Grantin P.211 to the disaster area, while the Navigation District prepared the state vessel KN Masalembo to provide additional support if operational conditions required further resources.
Evacuation efforts were still underway as authorities continued searching the surrounding waters and identifying rescued passengers.
Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono said the government would immediately launch a formal investigation to determine what caused the fire aboard the ferry.
“The government will immediately begin an investigation because we must know exactly what caused this incident,” Yudhoyono said Monday.
He said Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee would lead the investigation, cautioning that determining the cause would require time and a detailed technical examination.
Yudhoyono added that investigators would evaluate the vessel’s condition, weather conditions and crew preparedness as part of the inquiry. He also reiterated the government’s commitment to accelerating the modernization of Indonesia’s passenger ferry fleet to improve maritime safety standards and strengthen transportation services across the archipelago.
For now, officials said the government’s focus remains on completing rescue operations while ensuring passenger verification is accurate so that every person aboard the ferry is accounted for and families receive reliable information as the emergency response continues.
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