5 Deaths in shipboard fire in Java Sea

Sumenep, East Java. Five people reportedly died when a passenger ship caught fire while sailing near Masalembu Island in the Java Sea, police said.

"One of the five casualties has not yet been identified," Sumenep Police spokesman Adj. Comr. Suwardi said on Saturday (20/05), as quoted by state-run news agency Antara. He added that the rest of the deceased were from Surabaya, Banyuwangi and Malang – in East Java – and from Purwodadi in Central Java.

Fire broke out on board the KM Mutiara Sentosa I at 4.00 p.m. on Friday, while it was underway from Surabaya to Balikpapan in East Kalimantan.

The ship, which belongs to Atosim Lampung Pelayaran, departed from Tanjung Perak Port in Surabaya on Thursday night.

The Ministry of Transportation said in a separate statement on Saturday that the rescue mission involved patrol ships, a tugboat, a vessel belonging to the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) and fishing boats.

"The incident on the KM Mutiara Sentosa I shows that safety regulations have not been implemented properly," the Transportation Ministry's director general for sea transportation, Tonny Budiono, said in the statement.

According to the manifest, the ship captained by Eddy Sarwoto reportedly also carried 79 motor vehicles, consisting of 47 large trucks, nine midsized trucks, 21 passenger cars and two motorcycles.

The manifest reportedly also shows that there were 170 people on board, consisting of 36 crewmembers and 134 passengers – two of them children.

However, according to the Sumenep Police there were 193 people on board.

From the JG, 20/05/17


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From the JP same date,

The National Transportation Safety Commission (KNKT) will investigate a truck onboard the ill-fated KM Mutiara Santosa I ferry that caught fire in Masalembo waters off Madura Island in East Java. The tragedy claimed five lives over the weekend.

From several witnesses, the fire started from a green truck covered in blue tarpaulin parked on the first deck. The crew and passengers initially managed to put down the fire, however the blaze started again. An explosion erupted when the tarp of the truck was opened. The explosion shocked the passengers, who then immediately tried to flee as the fire amplified, KNKT head Soerjanto Tjahjono said.

“We will focus on the truck. Who was the owner and what was the cargo?” he said on Sunday at the Search and Rescue post at Tanjung Perak Port in Surabaya, East Java.

Once the investigation is complete, a team from the commission will draw up new standards to prevent dangerous cargo from getting onboard ships.

The vessel, heading to Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, from Surabaya, caught fire on Friday afternoon.

Surabaya Search and Rescue Office head Mochammad Arifin said the joint team evacuated 197 people onboard. This figure does not match up to the ship’s manifest. However, there are no reports of missing family members among the survivors.

The joint team has officially ended the search for victims, but will continue to monitor the situation for the next seven days.


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