VIDEO | Five dead after fire erupts on ferry off North Sulawesi, Indonesia

Five people were killed after a fire ignited on a passenger vessel off Indonesia's North Sulawesi province on Sunday, July 20.

The incident on the locally-registered ferry Barcelona VA occurred at around 13:30 local time on Sunday while it was underway off North Sulawesi's Talise Island with nearly 300 passengers and crew on board.

Video that has since circulated online shows that the blaze ignited on the upper decks and quickly spread through the rest of the vessel, forcing many of the occupants to don lifejackets and jump into the water.

Three Indonesian Navy ships, vessels from national search and rescue (SAR) agency Basarnas, as well as some Good Samaritan fishing boats immediately diverted to the area to render assistance.

Around 280 survivors and the bodies of five deceased victims were pulled out of the water during the SAR effort. However, it remains unknown whether any other passengers and crew are still missing.

The fire on Barcelona VA has since been extinguished, allowing rescuers to board the ferry and search through the interior spaces for the remains of any individuals who are still unaccounted for.

Fatal ferry accidents are not uncommon in Indonesia, though data gathered by ferry safety advocate and Baird Maritime Co-Founder Dr Neil Baird showed that the total death tolls of ferry accidents in the country's waters have decreased significantly over the last couple of years.

"In stark comparison, the once worst performing nations of the Philippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and China had no to negligible fatal ferry accidents with similarly small death tolls again in 2024," Dr Baird wrote earlier this year.

"Their governments are to be congratulated on their very successful efforts to make ferry travel much safer. Their combined total of accidents was eight in 2024 with a total of 84 known fatalities arising."