JAKARTA, Indonesia (HPD) — A passenger boat carrying 240 people caught fire off southern Indonesia on Monday, killing 14 people, rescue teams said.
The KM Express Cantika 77 was en route to Kalabahi from Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara province when it caught fire. It was carrying 230 passengers and 10 crew members, authorities said.
They are investigating the cause of the fire.
Rescuers from the Kupang Search and Rescue Agency and nearby vessels rescued 226 survivors, the agency said in a statement. He indicated that 14 people were confirmed dead.
Ferry and boat tragedies are common in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, where safety measures on boats are lax.
In 2018, an overcrowded ferry with some 200 people on board sank into a deep volcanic crater lake in North Sumatra province, killing 167 people.
In one of the worst disasters on record in the country, an overcrowded passenger ship sank in February 1999 with 332 people on board. There were only 20 survivors.