JAKARTA, Oct 25 — Fourteen people died after an Indonesian boat caught fire while at sea near the province of East Nusa Tenggara on Monday, a rescue official said.
I Putu Sudayana, the local rescue official, told Reuters that of 240 people evacuated from the vessel, 14 died and 226 survived. He said he did not know the total number of passengers on the ship.
Videos circulating on social media, which Reuters could not immediately authenticate, show rescue officials helping people in orange life vests onto rescue ships.
Reuters could not immediately determine why the ship caught on fire and the purpose of the journey, but an official at the local transportation agency was quoted by state news agency Antara as saying the ship was fit to sail.
Putu said an earlier manifest contained 177 people on board the ship, but rescuers evacuated 240.
A spokesperson for the country’s disaster mitigation agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
— Reuters
