At least five dead, dozens missing after ferry sinks off Bali

A ferry carrying 65 people sank off Indonesia’s resort island of Bali late Wednesday (2 July 2025), leaving at least five people dead and dozens missing, according to the country’s search and rescue agency and local officials.

The vessel, KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya, had departed from East Java’s Banyuwangi port and sank approximately 25 to 30 minutes after setting off, just before midnight local time.

The ferry was transporting 53 passengers, 12 crew members, and 22 vehicles when it made a distress call at around 11.20pm. Rescuers have launched a major search operation involving helicopters and 15 vessels, with ongoing efforts hampered by strong currents, high winds and waves reaching up to two metres.

So far, between 31 and 35 people have been rescued, though figures vary between official sources. Many of the rescued were found unconscious after drifting in open water for hours, Banyuwangi police chief Rama Samtama Putra said. Four of the survivors reportedly used the ferry’s lifeboat, while others swam through gaps in the vessel or clung to floating debris.

One survivor, Imron, recounted that the ferry tilted sharply three times before capsizing. “By the third time, sea water had already entered the passenger cabin,” he told the BBC. Bejo Santoso, another survivor, told Indonesia’s Antara news agency: “About three minutes after the ship started rolling, it capsized. I still had time to jump.”

The cause of the accident has not been established. The ferry operator had reported engine trouble shortly before the incident, while multiple officials have attributed the sinking to “bad weather.”

“The condition of this ship is fully submerged, so there is a possibility that there are people inside the ferry. But right now we are focusing on the surface of the water first,” said Nanang Sigit, head of the Surabaya Search and Rescue Agency.

President Prabowo Subianto, currently on an official visit to Saudi Arabia, ordered an immediate emergency response. Many families of passengers rushed to the departure port in Banyuwangi in search of updates. A manifest aired on MetroTV suggested there were no foreigners aboard.

Maritime accidents are relatively frequent in Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, where ferry transport is common but safety standards are often poorly enforced. In June, a tourist boat carrying 89 passengers capsized in Bali, although there were no fatalities. In 2018, over 150 people drowned when a ferry sank in Lake Toba, one of the world’s deepest lakes, on the island of Sumatra.

As of Thursday, search efforts continue amid improving weather conditions, though dozens of passengers remain unaccounted for.