Indonesian ferry fire kills 5, leaves 41 missing as rescue efforts continue

On a Sunday morning in the Java Sea, a routine ferry passage between two Indonesian cities became a scene of fire and desperate survival. The Mutiara Sentosa 2, carrying 271 souls across waters that bind together a nation of islands, caught fire near Madura's northern shore, killing at least five and leaving 41 unaccounted for. What unfolded was not merely an accident but a familiar chapter in a longer story — of a vast archipelago held together by vessels and waterways, and of the human cost when the infrastructure of connection fails.