Jakarta, August 2, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
At least five people were killed and 41 others remained missing after a passenger vessel caught fire in the Java Sea off Indonesia’s East Java province on Sunday, prompting a large-scale search and rescue operation involving multiple agencies and nearby ships.
According to Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency, 225 people were rescued after the vessel, Mutiara Santosa 2, was engulfed in flames while sailing north of Madura Island. The ship was carrying a total of 271 people, including 232 passengers and 39 crew members.
The vessel had departed from Surabaya in East Java on Sunday morning and was bound for Makassar on Sulawesi Island. Authorities said the fire broke out when the ship was approximately 19 nautical miles (35.2 kilometres) offshore.
Images from the scene showed the vessel almost completely consumed by flames, with passengers gathering on the bridge and the bow as they awaited evacuation. Several nearby vessels rushed to assist before search and rescue teams deployed additional boats and personnel to evacuate survivors and search for those unaccounted for.
The search operation remained underway at the time of reporting, while authorities launched an investigation to determine the cause of the fire.
The incident comes just weeks after another maritime tragedy in Indonesia. In June, search efforts for 14 people missing after the passenger boat KM Nurul Salsa sank off South Sulawesi were suspended following a 10-day operation that yielded no new leads. Of the 76 people on board that vessel, 58 were rescued, four died and 14 remained missing after it reportedly sank following engine failure while travelling from Jampea Island to Benteng.
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