Three people have died and more than 500 others have been rescued after a ferry caught fire off the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, emergency officials said. Passengers jumped overboard the KM Barcelona 5, as it sailed from Melonguane port in Talaud Islands district towards the city of Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi province, after the fire broke out on Sunday, said the Indonesian coastguard. Photos and videos circulated on social media showed terrified passengers, mostly wearing life jackets, jumping into the sea as orange flames and black smoke billowed from the burning vessel. A video released by the Manado rescue agency showed a coastguard vessel spraying water on the ferry, which was emitting black smoke. Indonesian authorities previously reported five people died in the accident, but later revised the death toll to three after two passengers initially reported as dead were saved in a hospital, including a two-month-old baby whose lungs were filled with seawater. At least 568 people were rescued from the ferry, the national search and rescue agency said in a statement on Monday. A coastguard ship, six rescue vessels and several inflatable boats were deployed in the rescue operation, Franky Pasuna Sihombing, chief of the Manado navy base, told The Associated Press news agency.

Full report : Number of people saved from burning Indonesian ferry rises to 575, rescuers say.