(Pakistan Point News - 21st Jul, 2025) MANADO, Indonesia, 21st July, 2025 (WAM) – Three people have died and more than 500 others have been rescued after a ferry caught fire off the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, emergency officials said.
Passengers jumped overboard the KM Barcelona 5, as it sailed from Melonguane port in Talaud Islands district towards the city of Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi province, after the fire broke out on Sunday, said the Indonesian coastguard.
At least 568 people were rescued from the ferry, the national search and rescue agency said in a statement on Monday.
A coastguard ship, six rescue vessels and several inflatable boats were deployed in the rescue operation, Franky Pasuna Sihombing, chief of the Manado navy base, told The Associated Press.
Authorities are still investigating the cause of the fire that began in the ferry’s stern and was extinguished within an hour, Sihombing said.
