At least 4 people died and 33 are missing after a passenger ferry went up in flames off Java island, Indonesia, a port official revealed on Friday (August 23).
KM Santika Nusantara was sailing between the second-largest city of Surabaya and Balikpapan, Borneo island with a total of 277 people on board when it caught fire Thursday evening, August 22. East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera confirmed on Friday that at least 4 people had died in the accident and dozens were unaccounted for.
According to Syachrul Nugroho, a spokesman for Surabaya's Tanjung Perak port, it appeared a fire broke out and the power of the ferry went down, cutting off water pumps.
He added the crew could not extinguish the fire because the water pumps were not working so passengers started to abandon the vessel.
Rescue efforts were complicated by the manifest of the boat listing only 111 passengers, officials said.