Indonesian Ferry Fire Kills Seven

At least seven people, including two children, have died after fire broke out on a ferry shortly after it set sail from Indonesia's capital Jakarta. The Levina I, with more than 200 people on board, was 80km (50 miles) from shore en route to Bangka island when the fire broke out. Five navy ships and two aircraft were despatched to evacuate survivors. The accident is the latest in a string of deadly incidents that have cast doubt over Indonesia's safety record. Officials said 211 passengers and crew had so far been saved, many of them taken off the burning vessel by another ferry. Indonesia's public perils It was not clear if others were still unaccounted for, in part because there were conflicting reports about the numbers of people who had been on the ferry. "We are still looking for (anyone unaccounted for) by combing through the waters. They may have jumped into the sea because the ferry was hot due to the fire," Lieutenant-Colonel Hendra Pakan of Indonesia's navy told Reuters news agency. The accident was the most deadly since a passenger ferry carrying around 600 people capsized in late December off Java island, leaving more than half the passengers feared dead. Indonesia, with its hundreds of islands, relies on ferries to provide a cheap and extensive passenger network. But many vessels are badly maintained, and there have been a number of recent accidents.

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child sex workers in Bandung

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