One dead, 172 rescued in Bali ferry blaze; Overcrowding suspected

Jakarta: Indonesian authorities rescued 172 people on Wednesday after a ferry travelling from the tourist island of Bali caught fire in waters off Lombok, officials said, as the search continued for any other missing passengers.

The KM Putri Yasmin ferry left Padangbai port in Bali in the early hours of Wednesday for Lembar port in Lombok in the province of West Nusa Tenggara, said Muhammad Hariyadi, the head of the local rescue agency.

By Wednesday afternoon, one Indonesian had been confirmed dead and 172 people had been evacuated to ports in Bali and Lombok, Hariyadi said.

Of the survivors, one was Australian and the rest were Indonesian.

"We have deployed some boats to carry out the evacuation and coordinate with other boats surrounding the location of the incident," Hariyadi said, adding that more than 200 personnel had been deployed to handle the operation.

It was unclear how the ferry caught fire, or whether overcrowding was a factor. Earlier in the day, an official at Padangbai port in Bali, Heri Wiyanto, told local broadcaster Kompas TV that only 114 passengers and 17 crew were registered in the ferry's manifest.

The incident took place less than a month after another ferry, KM Mutiara Sentosa 2, caught fire off Madura island, killing five people. The vessel was also carrying more people than its manifest showed.

Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands, relies heavily on ferries as a key mode of transportation, with sea routes more affordable and readily available than air travel.

However, safety standards are not always rigorously enforced, resulting in a relatively high rate of accidents.