Two foreign tourists were killed and about 20 other people were injured in an explosion Thursday on a speedboat that was ferrying them from the Indonesian tourist island of Bali to neighboring Lombok, police said.
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“We confirm there was no bomb on board”, Sugeng said.
Terrorism has been ruled out as the cause of the incident, with a short circuit near the fuel tank the likely cause according to officials.
Indonesia has “a poor maritime safety record”, notes the broadcaster.
“One of the passengers died from bad injuries after being hit by boat debris that also caused injuries to others”, Sudarso said.
The explosion happened just 200m after the boat had left Padang Bai port in eastern Bali, on its was to the island of Gili Trawangan.
Photographs of badly-injured victims being carried ashore have been widely shared on social media.
All 35 passengers on the ferry were foreigners, including nine from Britain, two from Ireland, six Italians and four French citizens.
“Up to now, two people have died, but I don’t know the details of their identities”, said district police chief Sugeng, who uses only one name, like many Indonesians.
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Sudarso added that they were investigating all possible causes of the explosion.
