02 January 2017•Update: 03 January 2017
By Ainur Rohmah
TUBAN, Indonesia
Rescue teams continued to search Monday for 17 people believed still missing the day after a fire on a crowded tourist boat off Indonesia's coast left at least 23 dead.
The Jakarta Globe reported that more than 190 passengers had been rescued after the fire broke out Sunday morning on the Zahro Express, which was carrying tourists from Jakarta to Tidung Island in Thousand Islands Regency to the capital's north.
It quoted the Jakarta National Disaster Mitigation Agency chief, Deni Wahyu, as saying that more than 48 of the survivors remained hospitalized.
"They suffered burns of various degrees. Some of them still need to be hospitalized," Deni told state-run Radio Republik Indonesia.
While investigations into the incident are ongoing, the head of North Jakarta's fire department, Satriadi Gunawan, said Sunday that the fire may have been caused by an electrical short circuit.
On Monday, the Jakarta Police arrested four crew members for involvement in the incident, a local police chief saying, however, that they had been questioned but none had been named suspects.
The head of the Jakarta Transportation Department has said that the body would investigate an apparent discrepancy between the number of passengers listed on the manifest and those on board the boat at the time of the accident.
"It may be an inaccurate passenger manifest," Andriansyah -- who like many Indonesians uses one name -- said, adding that the vessel only had a capacity of 259 passengers.
"Some [people] say 300 passengers [were on board], some say 238 passengers," he said.
Sailing permits issued by the harbormaster, however, show the vessel was registered as carrying 100 people.
Indonesia's waterways serve as a widespread form of transportation in some areas of the archipelago, where accidents resulting from overcrowded boats and lax safety standards are common.
