A fire broke out on the passenger ferry Mutiara Sentosa 2 on Sunday morning while it was sailing between Surabaya and Makassar in Indonesia, killing at least five people and leaving 41 unaccounted for among the 271 passengers and crew aboard. The blaze, which started in the vehicle deck, prompted a mass evacuation at sea, with nearby cargo ships and a tugboat rescuing 227 people by mid-morning despite rough seas hampering some rescue craft. Such disasters are a recurring problem in Indonesia's vast island archipelago, frequently linked to weak safety enforcement and oversight of ageing vessels.

The fire began between 6am and 7am off Madura Island, near the Sumenep regency, according to survivor accounts describing vehicles already ablaze on the lower deck when the alarm was raised. The 160-metre ferry, built in Japan in 1992 and previously known as the Ferry Osaka before Indonesia acquired it in 2015, was carrying 181 vehicles, including trucks and an excavator, alongside 232 passengers and 39 crew. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, and search efforts for the missing were continuing.