MANILA: At least 28 people have died, and around 230 were rescued after a passenger ferry caught fire in the seas off the southern province of Philippine Basilan, a coastguard official and rescue workers said.
Nine other citizens were injured in the fire on Wednesday night that started in air-conditioned cabins, Commodore Rejard Marfe, coastguard chief in southern Mindanao, told the DZMM radio station.
Images shared by the coastguard showed the MV Lady Mary Joy 3 ship being sprayed with water while rescued passengers were brought to the shore.
An emergency worker told reporters that the MV Lady Mary Joy three was travelling from Zamboanga City on Mindanao Island to Jolo Island in province of Sulu when the fire broke, prompting passengers to jump overboard.
A passenger ferry caught fire past 11 pm on Wednesday, March 29, in the waters off Baluk-Baluk Island, Hadji Mutamad in Basilan. Ten people have died, nine people were injured and 230 have been rescued. 📷 Philippine Coast Guard
READ: https://t.co/lJzZvbiDxH pic.twitter.com/RtiKILlLXJ
— Rappler (@rapplerdotcom) March 30, 2023
The number of passengers on the vessel exceeded
Basilan Governor Jim Salliman said more citizens could be missing because the number of passengers on the vessel exceeded the 205 listed in the ship’s manifest.
Salliman said, “Probably there are passengers who did not register in the manifest,” he said. Survivors were taken to Zamboanga and Basilan, where the wounded received treatment for burns.
It wasn’t clear how the fire started.
Chief of the Basilan disaster agency, Nixon Alonzo, said a few passengers jumped into the sea when the fire broke out.
“Some of the casualties were recovered from the vessel, and few drowned,” he said. “There were signs of burns in few of the victims.”
The coastguard said it would assist in an investigation and safety assessment and check for any signs of an oil spill.
The Philippines, the archipelago of more than 7,600 islands, has a poor record for maritime safety, with vessels often overcrowded and many ageing ships still in use.
