Ferry Blaze Kills At Least 17
Passengers Jump Overboard To Survive
Levina 1 - February 22, 2007
The transport ministry earlier said 16 people were killed, 274 were rescued and 17 were still missing from the 307 on board.
Transportation Minister Hatta Rajasa said the ferry carried 300 passengers, but the ship's log indicated there were 228 passengers, 42 trucks and eight cars on board. Tallies of ferry passengers are often incomplete and boats overloaded in Indonesia.
Three children were among the dead and dozens of survivors suffered burns and other injuries fleeing the Levina I car ferry as it billowed huge clouds of thick, black smoke.
The ferry's sister ship, the Levina II, rescued 211 of the survivors. The Filipino ship, Princess Vanessa also rescured many survivors, plucking them from the sea, where they clung to debris from the ship in the darkness, waiting for daylight that would help rescue vessels find them.
The Levina 1 was carrying over 200 passengers and dozens of vehicles when a pre-dawn blaze broke out in a truck on the car deck hours after the ferry left the capital, Jakarta, for the northwestern island of Bangka, port official Sato Bisri said.
