Fire Guts PassengernShip, Eight Killed in Stampede

Surabaya, E Java - A passenger ship, MV Kirana IX, was gutted by fire at Tanjung Perak Harbor here on Wednesday, and eight people were killed in the ensuing stampede. "So far, eight people were killed, seven of them women and the other a man. Identification of the bodies has been carried out at PHS Hospital in Surabaya," Deputy Police Chief of East Java Province Brig. Gen. Edi Sumantri said at the site of the accident. Seven people were seriously injured and 18 others slightly. The wounded were 17 women and eight men. The exact number of the fatalities and injured is not known yet because an evacuation process is till going on. The fire broke out at 6 am local time Wednesday had over 900 passengers on board. Last Monday (Sept 26), MV Marine Nusantara was razed by a fire that killed three people, injured 26 others seriously and 87 lightly shortly after colliding with a tugboat in Barito river in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan. The three fatalities were Abdul Karim (53) of Banjarmasin, Buyah (43) of Banjarmasin, and Nurhasanah (42) of Lumajang, East Java Province, a nurse at Soeharsono hospital said in Banjarmasin. The ship with 443 people on board was sailing from Surabaya (East Java) to Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan Province, when it caught fire at 7.30 local time. The passengers consisted of 394 adults, 23 children, and 22 babies. The fire broke out after the ship collided with coal tugboat Pualuat Tiga 330/22 off Kadap Isle in the Barito River. "If I am not mistaken, half an hour after the collision with the tugboat, a blaze broke out in the ship's hold," Arbainsyah, a passenger, said.