Multiple fatalities in Indonesian ferry fire

The Mutiara Sentosa 2 ferry sailing between Surabaya and Makassar, carrying a reported 271 passengers and crew caught. fire off Madura island in the early hours of Sunday morning. Initial reports said five bodies had been recovered and 229 people rescued, leaving around 40 people unaccounted for.

Widely reported as a passenger ferry, the Multiara Sentosa 2 also carried RoRo truck traffic, as shown by this 2025 photo of the ship loading in Tanjung (credit: Anzz Media / Shutterstock.com). The rapidignition and ferocity of the blaze has led some observers to suggest spontaneous ignition (or ‘thermal runaway’) of an Electric Vehicle (EV) battery as one possible cause of the tragedy. 

Indonesia's EV truck market has been reported as expanding rapidly, led by key commercial models including heavy duty mining haulers.Makassar is a major a major logistics and administrative hub for mining activities in South Sulawesi, Indonesia.

At a recent seminar on EV fire risk organised by Maritime London, it was pointed out that self-ignition of lithium-ion batteries could be responsible for a higher number of vessel fires than is ever officiallyrecorded, the very ferocity (and speed) of the conflagrations they cause serving to destroy all evidence of the blazes’ origins.