Police rule out foul play after several people injured on boat carrying tourists from Bali to Lombok

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

An explosion on a ferry carrying 30 tourists and four crew members between the Indonesian resort islands of Bali and Lombok has killed two foreigners and injured 18 others, including one passenger whose feet were blown off.

An Austrian woman was killed along with a second female foreigner, whose nationality was still being verified. Two German citizens were injured while nationals from Britain, France, Italy, Portugal, Ireland and Spain were also among the passengers.

Police have not determined the cause of Thursday’s explosion, but have ruled out foul play. A member of the forensics team investigating the scene said initial indications were that it was an accident.



The Karangasem district police chief, Sugeng Sudarso, said earlier that all the passengers had been evacuated from the Gili Cat 2 fast boat and the injured were being treated at a medical clinic.

Sudarso said the explosion occurred minutes after the boat left Padangbai port in Karangasem. Smoke was seen billowing from the engine.

“We are still questioning the boat captain while a forensic team is examining the scene to find the cause of the explosion,” he said.

One woman died from head injuries soon after the blast while the Austrian woman died later in hospital, he said.

A passenger manifest said nine of those on board were from Britain, according to the Jakarta-based reporter Jewel Topsfield. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “We are providing consular assistance to British nationals affected by an explosion on a ferry off the coast of Bali.”

The Indonesian archipelago of more than 17,000 islands is heavily dependent on ferry services but the industry has a poor safety record and fatal accidents are common.

Last year, dozens of tourists were injured when small explosions hit a ferry crossing between Bali and the neighbouring holiday island of Lombok.

The explosions were an accident and thought to have come from the fuel tank of the ferry, which was carrying 129 passengers, most of them tourists.

Bali and Lombok are two of Indonesia’s most popular holiday destinations.