A passenger ferry caught fire overnight off the western Philippines, leaving dozens of people unaccounted for by Thursday and at least five confirmed dead.
Coast guard spokeswoman Commodore Noemie Cayabyab said 43 people have been rescued so far.
The blaze aboard the MV June Aster, which began Wednesday evening, has been extinguished, but the ferry remained afloat and was listing.
By midday, thin streams of smoke were still rising from the blackened vessel.
“We are continuing search and rescue operations,” Cayabyab said, adding that a coast guard ship and rapid-response boats were working alongside a military vessel, other government craft, private volunteers and local fishermen.
The coast guard issued a radio alert urging nearby ships to watch for survivors from the ferry and coordinated with coastal villages in case passengers had drifted toward shore.
Images from the nighttime rescue showed coast guard crews throwing life jackets to survivors as flames engulfed the ferry in the background.
Survivors were transferred into smaller boats and brought toward shallow waters, while body bags were seen laid out in what appeared to be a port area.
The ferry had sailed from the capital Manila and was near its destination of Coron in Palawan province when the fire started around 6:45 p.m. Wednesday.
Bad weather and big waves challenged rescuers.
The ferry was around 4 nautical miles off Coron’s village of Turda when it sent a distress signal but strong sea currents had dragged it to a distance of 7.68 nautical miles off Turda.
Cayabyab said it was unclear what caused the fire, which one survivor said may have begun in the cargo hold, and the coast guard was coordinating with the shipping company and maritime authorities to get more details.
She said 134 people were on board, 117 of them passengers and 17 crew. There was no information about any foreigners onboard.
Ferries are a common transportation method 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 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.
