Over 200 evacuated following ferry grounding in northern Indonesia

A ferry with over 200 passengers and crew ran aground after it encountered bad weather in northern Indonesia on Tuesday, August 23.

The hull of the 1,000GT inter-island ferry Glory Mary made bottom contact on a reef as it was approaching its final destination of Beo in the Talaud Islands region at around 04:00 local time on Tuesday.

The vessel has remained on an even keel following the grounding, allowing the passengers and crew to be safely transferred to small boats for evacuation to shore.

An official of the Indonesian Navy said all 202 passengers and 17 crewmembers were safely evacuated with no reports of serious injury. The ferry suffered no significant hull damage, and preparations are being made for an eventual refloating upon the onset of high tide on Friday, August 26.

Reports state that the area where Glory Mary ran aground was experiencing rain and fog at the time of the incident.

An investigation has been launched to determine whether the grounding was the result of crew negligence.