This has been announced by the traffic authority of the province of East Nusa Tenggara of the AFP news agency. However, the head of a local search and rescue service, I Putu Sudayana, gave the number of 14 dead.
The cause of the fire was initially unclear. The fire broke out on the upper deck after the “KM Express Cantika 77” departed from the provincial capital of Kupang on the island of Timor. The ship would travel to the city of Kalabahi on the island of Alor.
Terrified passengers jumped into the sea to escape the flames. Many of them wore life jackets, some saved themselves by swimming to the shore.
Shipwrecks happen again and again in the Southeast Asian country with its approximately 17,000 islands. Safety standards are often lax and not adequately monitored.
(SDA)