The death toll from a fire on a passenger ferry in the Philippines has risen to 35, as more bodies were recovered Friday from the burned wreck, with 54 still missing.
There were 43 survivors from the fire that erupted on Wednesday night. Images provided by the coast guard showed the gutted interior of the ship and what appeared to be charred remains, ashes and burnt metal, including a car.
Rescuers on Thursday struggled to get inside the vessel because of the heat and smoke, slowing efforts to search for passengers who may have been trapped.
“We have 30 (bodies) on board our (rescue) boat now that will arrive tomorrow,” coast guard spokeswoman Commodore Noemie Cayabyab told AFP, explaining that it was the capacity of the patrol boat being used to transfer them.
Asked if bodies still remained aboard the ferry, she replied: “Yes, there are more.”
The ferry sailed from the capital, Manila, and was around 4.5 miles off the village of Turda near its destination of Coron in Palawan province when the fire was reported. The cause of the fire has not been determined.
Photos released by the coast guard showed rows of body bags being placed into a small ship alongside men in hazmat suits.
“It’s painful to think that your child was asking for help while she was burning alive,” Lira Daco said as she waited at a rescue center in Turda for word about her missing 20-year-old daughter, Cyriel.
“I don’t know how we can find out which one is my child,” she added of the remains found inside the ship. “It’s OK if she just drowned and we can recover her body and give her a proper burial. But now we can’t recognize or hug her.”
Survivor Arnulfo Nokki Villanueva recounted the harrowing night of the fire in a video broadcast by News5.
“The fire quickly spread. That’s when I dropped to the ground and my back was burned,” he said, adding that he jumped from a window. “I wanted to get a life jacket but failed to get one because people were stepping on me. People were in panic.”
According to the manifest, 134 people were on board, 117 of them passengers and 17 crew. The 174-foot vessel had a capacity to carry 306 passengers and 27 crew. Two passengers listed in the manifest reported to authorities that they failed to board, the coast guard said.
Two of the survivors were tourists from Chile, according to Rachel Conserman, a staffer of the ship’s owner Atienza Interisland Ferries Inc. They are recovering from injuries in a hospital in Coron, she said, adding that no other foreigners were known to have been on the ship.
The shipping company said in a statement it was assisting those who were on board and their families while coordinating with the coast guard and maritime officials to locate the missing passengers and determine the cause.
Coron is a popular tourist destination known for clear blue waters, limestone cliffs and rock formations.
Ferries are frequently used for transport in the Philippine archipelago. Sea accidents are not uncommon due to storms, badly maintained vessels, overcrowding and spotty enforcement of safety regulations, especially in remote provinces.
In January, a triple-decker ferry carrying more than 340 people sank off the southern Philippines, killing at least 52 people.
The MV Trisha Kerstin 3 sank along nearly the same route where 31 people died in 2023 after a fire broke out aboard the Lady Mary Joy 3 ferry.
In 1987, the ferry Dona Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker in the central Philippines, killing more than 4,300 people in the world’s deadliest peacetime maritime disaster.
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