13 killed in Indonesian ferry blaze

At least 13 people were killed when a fire broke out on an Indonesian ferry on Friday.
The ferry caught fire in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra, about three kilometres (two miles) from the port of Merak at the westernmost tip of Java, at around 3:30 am.
The survivors jumped into the sea wearing life jackets and were picked up by boats, he added. Many were transferred to two hospitals in Cilegon on Java for treatment. Truck driver Musaka, who was a passenger on the ferry, said the fire came from the vehicle area.
The vessel had been on its way to Bakauheni, the main port on the southernmost tip of Sumatra. The Indonesian archipelago of more than 17,000 islands is heavily dependent on ferry services but the industry has a poor safety record and fatal accidents are common. Up to 335 people were killed when a heavily overloaded ferry sank off the island of Sulawesi in January 2009.