A ferry with more than 250 passengers and crew members on board has gone up in flames near Bali in Indonesia.

Rescue efforts got underway after the ferry began bellowing black smoke.

From the AP:

A passenger ferry carrying 271 people caught fire Wednesday off Indonesia's resort island of Bali, but there were no immediate reports of casualties and evacuation efforts were ongoing, rescue officials said.

The Mutiara Timur I was carrying 236 passengers and 35 crew members when it caught fire in the Bali Strait, about 1.5 kilometers (a mile) from Karangasem beach.

Dozens of rescuers, navy sailors and local fishermen were trying to evacuate people to two navy ships and and there were no immediate reports of injuries, said Bali's search and rescue agency head Gede Darmada.

"We are still focus on evacuation efforts," Darmada said, adding that the cause of the fire was being investigated.

At the time of writing, casualties have not been reported.

Hopefully rescue efforts are successful and injury and loss of life are avoided.