Fire Aboard Ferry KMP Batumandi Prompts Evacuation of 460 Near Merak, Indonesia

A ferry operated by Indonesian state-owned company ASDP, the KMP Batumandi, caught fire on the afternoon of October 20 while completing its crossing of the Sunda Strait and approaching the port of Merak, in Banten province. The fire was reported at around 16:15 local time, when the vessel was in the approach channel to Merak, and all passengers and crew were evacuated safely.

According to Merak's vessel traffic service, the initial report placed the origin of the fire in the engine room, while ASDP personnel on shore observed sparks and fire at the stern, on the upper deck used for small vehicles, as the ferry approached Dermaga VI, near Pulau Merak Besar. The vessel had departed from Bakauheni, in southern Sumatra, at 14:52, according to the operator.

The ferry Royce 1 informed Merak's vessel traffic service at 16:56 that it had taken aboard all passengers and crew from the Batumandi, and ASDP recorded the completion of the evacuation at 17:05, with the evacuees disembarked at Dermaga IV. The Russian agency ports news rusia, citing Indonesia's Ministry of Transportation, stated that a total of 460 people were evacuated; that figure corresponds only to passengers and crew, not including the 89 vehicles the vessel was carrying, which were listed as a separate category. By contrast, the Basarnas agency, as cited by marinetraffic_maritimenews, reported that the vessel was carrying 420 people in total, comprising 380 passengers and 40 crew members, while Baird Maritime noted that Metro TV reported a detailed count of 420 passengers and eight vehicles.

No fatalities were recorded, as confirmed by Yogie Nugraha, head of the Banten Port Authority, though there were injuries requiring medical attention. Baird Maritime reported that six passengers were taken to a community health center, while ports news rusia specified that 16 passengers were treated following the evacuation, 11 at the Pulomerak community health center and five at Krakatau Medika Hospital.

The response involved port authorities, the search and rescue agency Basarnas, police, tugboats and other vessels, including the ferries Royce 1, Munic 3 and SMS Mulawarman. Baird Maritime reported that the fire was still active at 21:00 as crews worked to extinguish it, and that ASDP temporarily relocated passenger and vehicle loading and unloading from Dermaga VI Eksekutif to Dermaga Express 2 to maintain traffic on the route. The cause of the fire has yet to be determined and is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) and police, according to ports news rusia.

ASDP's chief executive, Heru Widodo, said the company is working together with state-owned accident insurer Jasa Raharja to assess passengers' material losses and possible compensation, as well as to set up services for those who lost documents and belongings in the fire. The KMP Batumandi is a 5,553 gross-registered-tonnage ro-ro ferry, built in Indonesia by PT Daya Radar Utama and operated by PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry.