A ferry carrying dozens of people and multiple vehicles sank in the Bali Strait late Wednesday night, leaving at least four people dead and many others missing, according to Indonesian authorities.
The KM Tunu Pratama Jaya went down around 23:35 WIB on 2 July while traveling from Ketapang Port in Banyuwangi, East Java, to Gilimanuk Port in western Bali. The vessel was carrying 66 people in total—53 passengers and 13 crew members—along with several vehicles, including private cars, trucks, and motorcycles.
As of Thursday afternoon, Bali Police spokesperson Kombes Pol Jansen Avitus Panjaitan Ariasandy said 27 people had been identified, including four who were found dead. Another 23 were rescued alive, while the rest remain unaccounted for.
The victims’ bodies have been transported to Negara Regional Hospital in Jembrana, Bali.
Search operations continued on Thursday in the waters of the Bali Strait, with authorities still working to determine the cause of the accident. Local media reported that the ferry operator had radioed in engine trouble shortly before the vessel went down. An official cited rough weather as a contributing factor.
President Prabowo Subianto, currently on an official visit in Saudi Arabia, has ordered an immediate emergency response.
The Ketapang–Gilimanuk route is one of the busiest ferry crossings in the country, linking Java and Bali and serving as a vital artery for both locals and commercial transport. The incident adds to a long list of maritime accidents in Indonesia, an archipelago of around 17.000 islands where safety regulations are often poorly enforced.
In March, an Australian tourist died after a smaller vessel capsized off Bali, underscoring ongoing concerns about maritime safety in the region.
