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At least five people died and 41 remained missing after a ferry caught fire near the Indonesian island of Madura, local media reported.
The ferry was covering the route between Surabaya, in East Java province, and Makassar, in South Sulawesi, with 271 passengers and crew on board. Authorities reported that 225 people had been rescued.
Rescue teams were evacuating passengers, including some who jumped into the sea to escape the fire, according to the English-language newspaper Jakarta Globe.
Nanang Sigit, head of the Surabaya Search and Rescue Office, indicated that several nearby vessels joined the rescue efforts.
He also detailed that the vessel was about 19 nautical miles from Buruan Sapudi Island, the closest landmass.
Amateur videos circulating on social media showed dense columns of black smoke rising from the upper decks as flames spread across the ship.
The images also showed passengers in life jackets crowded on one side of the ferry.
In line with information that emerged from the case, the vessel affected by the flames would be the KM Mutiara Sentosa 2, which was launched in 1992.
The ship is 160 meters long and 25 meters wide.
