28 Jan 2011

11 killed after Indonesian ferry catches fire

9:28 pm on 28 January 2011

At least 11 people have been killed and many more injured when a passenger and vehicle ferry caught fire in the Sunda Strait between Indonesia's Java and Sumatra islands on Friday.

The ferry caught fire in the Sunda Strait, about 3km from the port of Merak at the westernmost tip of Java, about 3.30am on Friday, AFP reports.

The Transport Ministry says they have rescued 427 people, including the ferry crew.

Many passengers were transferred to a hospital in Cilegon on Java for treatment.

The ministry says a vehicle inside the ferry was the suspected source of the fire.

Indonesia, home to 240 million people, relies heavily on ferry services to connect the 17,000 islands in the world's largest archipelago.

Up to 335 people were killed when a heavily overloaded ferry sank off the island of Sulawesi in January 2009.