MATARAM, Aug. 21 -- For the passengers aboard the crowded inter-island ferry when fire broke out somewhere in its hull, the Lombok Strait was not, on Wednesday, a transit route. It was the obstacle between them and safety.

One woman, an Indonesian national, died. By the time Indonesian navy ships, search and rescue vessels, patrol boats, and a helicopter had completed the operation, 172 people had been brought to safety. Two of them were Australian nationals.

Muhammad Hariyadi, head of the Mataram Search and Rescue Office, confirmed both the death toll and the rescue count to reporters on Wednesday. The cause of the fire, he said, was not yet clear. That determination belongs to an investigation that had not produced preliminary finding...