Ferry Fire In Java Sea, Engine Room Blaze Triggers Panic, Four Passengers Injured During Evacuation

Cirebon, Indonesia— Panic spread through a passenger ferry crossing the Java Sea at 9:10 a.m. Tuesday when thick smoke poured from the engine room vents and the captain ordered evacuation to the upper deck.

The KM Bahari Nusantara, carrying 212 passengers and 28 crew from Semarang to Pontianak, was 18 nautical miles north of Cirebon when an alarm indicated fire in the starboard engine. The crew shut fuel lines and activated CO2 suppression. Smoke still filled the aft stairwell.

Four passengers were injured during evacuation. Two suffered smoke inhalation, one sprained an ankle jumping from a lifeboat ladder, and a fourth was burned on the hand while handling a hot railing. All were treated on board before transfer to Cirebon.

"Smoke came fast. The crew shouted to wear life jackets and go up. People pushed. Children cried," said Siti Rahmawati, 38, traveling with two children to visit family in Kalimantan. She said crew members physically blocked a stairwell to prevent passengers from going down toward the fire.

The captain sent a distress call at 9:22 a.m. A nearby cargo vessel and two Indonesian Navy patrol boats responded. The ferry drifted for an hour while engineers confirmed the fire was out. No hull breach was found.

Directorate General of Sea Transportation said preliminary information points to a fuel line leak dripping onto a hot turbocharger. The ferry passed annual inspection in July. Its fire detection system functioned, but one emergency exit sign was reportedly unlit.

"The engine room is intact but sooted. Fuel shutoff worked. The injuries happened during panic, not from flames," a port authority investigator said at Cirebon harbor after the ship was towed in.

Passengers disembarked at Cirebon port at 2 p.m. and were given food and tickets for onward travel. The shipping company said it would refund fares and cover medical costs.

Ferry fires remain common in Indonesia’s aging inter-island fleet. The National Transportation Safety Committee has urged mandatory thermal imaging in engine rooms.

The vessel will remain detained in Cirebon for technical examination before any clearance to sail again.