JAKARTA: Concerns are mounting over safety oversight in Indonesia’s maritime sector after a passenger ferry caught fire off the coast of Madura, East Java, killing at least five people and leaving two others missing.
The KMP Mutiara Sentosa II, which operates a route between Surabaya, East Java, and Makassar, South Sulawesi, caught fire at around 6am on Sunday (Aug 2).
The vessel was carrying 236 passengers, mostly logistics truck drivers, along with 39 crew members.
Udin Karo Karo, chairman of the Makassar–Surabaya Truck Drivers Association, criticized the vessel’s emergency response procedures, alleging that passengers were left to evacuate themselves during the blaze.
“Crew members failed to guide passengers during the fire. Around 40 percent of drivers aboard the vessel saved themselves. This is far from what is required under existing regulations,” Udin said on Monday.
He said many passengers were also forced to jump into the sea from the 160-meter-long, 25-m-wide vessel while relying only on life jackets, as no lifeboats or inflatable rescue rafts were visible during the evacuation.
Udin called on port authorities and maritime regulators to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the vessel’s operational readiness and safety compliance.
He also urged authorities to ensure accountability and provide compensation for victims.
“We ask the authorities to investigate the cause of this incident, including whether negligence or other factors were involved. There must be accountability and compensation for the victims,” he said.
East Java Occupational Safety and Health Council Deputy Chairman Edi Priyanto said the deadly fire raised concerns that the underlying problems may extend beyond technical failures, pointing to possible shortcomings in the company’s safety culture, organizational learning and risk management systems.
The KMP Mutiara Sentosa II is a roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) passenger vessel operated by PT Atosim Lampung Pelayaran (ALP).
Previously, another vessel owned by the same operator, the KMP Mutiara Sentosa I, also caught fire near Madura, on May 19, 2017, killing five people.
“From a safety perspective, every incident should lead to improvements in the system. If similar incidents continue to occur, it indicates that lessons from previous accidents have not been properly implemented in practice,” Edi said.
He added that the investigation into the fire that engulfed the KMP Mutiara Sentosa II should not be limited to determining the source of the blaze, but should also examine why the fire spread so quickly and whether the vessel’s emergency response systems and safety procedures operated effectively.
“This incident serves as a reminder that maritime safety depends not only on a vessel’s seaworthiness, but also on the effectiveness of its safety management systems, the quality of maintenance, crew preparedness and the consistent implementation of a strong safety culture,” Edi said.
Transportation Minister Dudy Purwagandhi said the government would conduct a comprehensive evaluation of PT ALP after receiving the results of an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) into the cause of the ferry accident.
“We will conduct an evaluation, but the most important thing is that we first need to establish the cause of the accident based on the findings from the KNKT,” Dudy said on Monday as quoted by Kompas.com.
Dudy noted that PT ALP had been involved in at least two previous maritime accidents, raising further questions about the company’s safety practices and operational standards.
He said the latest incident would serve as an important reference for the government in assessing the company’s compliance with safety requirements and preventing similar accidents in the future.
The KMP Mutiara Sentosa II fire occurred only a month after a ferry carrying more than 70 passengers sank while sailing near Selayar, a small island off South Sulawesi.
At least four people were found dead, while 14 others remained missing when authorities ended the search operation.
Abdul Hadi, a member of the House of Representative Commission V overseeing transportation and infrastructures, described the fire aboard the KMP Mutiara Sentosa II as a serious warning about the state of Indonesia’s maritime safety system.
“When ship accidents continue to occur within a short period of time, this is no longer simply a matter of isolated incidents. It is a warning that our maritime safety system requires much more serious attention,” Abdul said.
He urged authorities to ensure that safety inspections and certification processes are carried out thoroughly and are not reduced to routine administrative procedures.
“Safety inspections must not become mere formalities or administrative routines. Every seaworthiness certificate, every inspection and every safety procedure must accurately reflect whether a vessel is truly safe to transport passengers. The lives of passengers must not be put at risk because of negligence or weak supervision,” he said.
The Jakarta Post contacted PT ALP for comment, but the company was not immediately available to respond. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
