Bandarlampung, Lampung (ANTARA News) - The death toll in the fire on the KMP Laut Teduh II ferry in the Sunda Strait early on Friday has risen to nine, police said.

"Two Lampung residents will be evacuated to Kalianda, South Lampung, on Friday afternoon," said Lampung Police chief Brigadier General Sulistyo Ishak here Friday.

Sulistyo said the death toll might continue to rise, considering the Search And Rescue team was still sweeping the location.

"We are assisting the sweeping discovery process around the KMP Laut Teduh II burn site at Sunda Strait by deploying three supporting ships," he said.

In the victim sweeping effort two ships were sent by the Lampung`s Marine Police and one back up ship came from the Indonesian Police Headquarters.

Based on the recent received information also recorded some 89 vehicle were burnt from the accident, the figure consisted of buses and trucks besides personal cars, Sulistyo.

"We are just assisting to sweep under the operation control status which includes the disaster victim identification team," he said.

Besides casualties, some 427 ferry passenger were survived the tragedy, after caught fire near the Merak waters on Friday morning.

The ill-fated ferry carried 150 passengers who came in person and 93 two in their cars, including sedans (38), buses and diesel trucks (26), and large buses. (*)

Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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