Crossing Ship In Bengkalis Burns Allegedly Due To Short Circuit In Passenger Room

The ship caught fire in Bengkalis (Photo: between)

JAKARTA - The Permata Lestari Ferry Motorboat (KMP) caught fire allegedly from a short circuit in the passenger room on Thursday, May 23 at 11.00 WIB. The incident was at the material port of PT Bumi Laksamana Bandar Jaya (BLJ) Air Putih Bengkalis.

Head of the Bengkalis Regency Transportation Service (Kadishub) Adi Pranoto confirmed this. According to him, the burning ship has not been operating since May 12, 2024.

"It is suspected that the fire originated from a short circuit in the passenger room and this ship has not been extended since May 12, 2024, the position of the ship when it caught fire was leaning on the port of PT BLJ. This incident is purely the responsibility of the company," said Kadishub Adi Pranoto quoting Antara.

To extinguish the fire on the burning ship, he continued, two fire engines were dispatched from the fire department. Finally, in some time the fire was extinguished.

"Alhamdulillah, the fire has been extinguished and it's just a matter of cooling down," said Adi.

The fire in KMP Permata Lestari, Adi emphasized, did not interfere with the flow of shipping to other roro ships serving the Bengkalis-Sungai Pakning route.

"Today's operating ship is only two ships and three more ships are just ready to return from docking and wait for checks for operations and this incident does not interfere with the flow of the crossing," said Adi Pranoto.

This incident, he continued, will be an evaluation for his party regarding the condition of the ship in the future so that similar incidents do not occur again and can have an impact on crossing current services.