Sixteen passengers die in Indonesian ferry inferno

A FIRE broke out on an Indonesian ferry carrying 300 passengers yesterday, killing at least 16 people and sending scores of passengers jumping into the sea, officials said.

One woman slipped beneath the waves while clutching her 18-month-old daughter.

More than a dozen people remained unaccounted for following the country’s second major maritime disaster in as many months.

The pre-dawn fire started in a truck on the Levina 1’s car deck, hours after the 2,000-tonne vessel left the capital, Jakarta, for the northwestern island of Bangka, said port official Sato Bisri.

Aerial footage showed flames and heavy black smoke pouring from the 27-year-old ferry as authorities launched a massive rescue operation, plucking 275 survivors from the Java Sea and the ship’s charred hull.

A cargo hand said a woman handed him her 18-month-old baby and then jumped overboard.

“I tried to scale a rope, but was knocked into the water by a falling passenger, still clutching the baby,” said Heru, aged 29, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name. “I swam to a water cooler and then spotted the mother clinging to another cooler nearby.

“The baby was crying ‘Mama! Mama! and she insisted I hand over the child,” he said, adding that 15 minutes later, large waves pulled them both under. “Now they’re gone.”

Two warships, three helicopters, a tug boat and nine cargo ships were taking part in the rescue operations, scouring surrounding waters for more survivors, said Hambar Wiyadi, another port official.