Two People Have Been Killed and 18 Injured in a Tourist-Boat Explosion Near Bali

An explosion on a tourist boat near the Indonesian island of Bali on Thursday has left two people dead and 18 other foreigners injured, according to police.

An Austrian woman and another female foreigner were killed in the blast, which appears to have originated in the boat’s fuel tank shortly after it set sail, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.

“The explosion happened five minutes after the boat departed,” local police chief Sugeng Sudarso told AFP, adding that the vessel was only about 650 ft. from port when the incident occurred.

The blast appears to have been an accident. Police said a bomb squad had investigated the vehicle and ruled out an attack, according to AFP.

The boat was carrying some 35 foreign passengers and four crew members when it left eastern Bali for the island of Gili Trawangan, a popular tourist destination.

Preliminary information from police indicated that the injured passengers included nationals from the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain, reports AFP.

Authorities have not yet released the identities of the two people who were killed, but AFP cited police saying that both were female foreigners and that one died from head injuries.

[AFP]