In the early hours of 28 January 2011, the Laut Teduh 2 departed Merak with 454 passengers and crews.

[1] MV Laut Teduh 2 was built in 1988 by Ferguson Appledore Shipbuilders Ltd in Palleon Shipyard, located in Sunderland, Tyne And Wear, North East England.

She was later put up for sale in 2007 and was sold to Bangun Putra Remaja, a company located in Tanjung Priok, Jakarta.

As crews unloaded her cargo, passengers boarded the ship and vehicles were brought onto the two car decks.

[4][1] The captain was informed about the incident and ordered two workers in the ship's workshop, located directly above the fire, to extinguish the flames.

Crews tried to stop the fire from spreading further, but a large explosion caused them to order everyone to abandon the ship immediately.

As the fire reached fuels inside the vehicles on board, multiple large explosions were heard, causing further panic among the passengers.

[1][6] Ferries, tugboats and an Indonesian military ship arrived to assist with the rescue operation.

[1] Vice President Boediono, accompanied by the Minister of Health Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih, visited the survivors in Krakatau Hospital.

[12] The Minister of Health gave operational funds of Rp50 million to assist with the evacuation process and support for the injured survivors.

[13] In response to the disaster, the People's Representatives Council issued a statement for the central government to enact administrative sanctions on every ferry operators that did not meet the set of standards.

[14] The government-owned insurance company Jasa Raharja stated that Rp65 million would be paid in compensation to relatives of the victims.

[17] However, on 31 January, the regional police of Banten charged the captain, the ship's first mate and a bus driver for negligence.

[19] Multiple survivors reported that the fire started at the back of a bus parked in the middle of the lower deck.

Investigators confirmed this, concluding that the fire originated from a short-circuit in the bus's faulty air conditioning system.

The fire spread and contacted combustible items including the seats and fuel of the bus, igniting an intense flame.

The ship's steel body conducted heat more efficiently to surrounding objects, causing the fire to spread even more rapidly.

However, due to the tightly parked vehicles and poor visibility, containment was difficult and the flames were able to spread quickly.

[1] The fire grew larger as an overhead fuel pipe, located directly above the bus, ignited.

[4] Rules issued by the Ministry of Transportation stated that the crew should also have ordered passengers to detach the cables connecting their vehicles' car batteries.

When other crew members started to realize there was a fire on board, the lower car deck had already been filled with thick smoke, making fire-fighting efforts difficult.

[1] The safety manual issued by the owner of MV Laut Teduh 2 stated that fire drills should be conducted at least once a month.

Interviews with the crew members revealed that no such training had been conducted for at least 2 years before the day of the disaster.

[1] These failures in crew management eventually led to the uncontrollable spread of the fire and the drowning of passengers.