Philippines ferry with 350 on board capsizes leaving 15 dead and dozens missing | Philippines
At least 15 people died when a ferry with more than 350 people on board sank near an island in the southern Philippines early Monday, according to local officials; The coast guard warned that 28 people were missing.
Coast guard officials said the inter-island cargo and passenger ferry M/V Trisha Kerstin 3 sank after midnight when it encountered technical problems while en route from the port city of Zamboanga to the island of Jolo in southern Sulu province with 332 passengers and 27 crew members.
The ferry sank in good weather about 1.8 km from the island village of Baluk-baluk in Basilan province, where most of the survivors were first taken, coast guard commander Romel Dua told The Associated Press.
Stating that the security guard survived, Dua said, “There was a coast guard officer on the ship and he was the first person to call and warn us about the deployment of rescue ships.”
Dua said coast guard and navy ships, as well as a surveillance plane, air force Black Hawk helicopter and fleets of fishing boats, were conducting search and rescue operations off the coast of Basilan.
Basilan Governor Mujiv Hataman said that many passengers and two bodies were brought to the provincial capital, Isabela, and that he and ambulance vans were waiting there.
“I accept 37 people here at the pier. Unfortunately, two of them died,” Hataman said in a statement to the Associated Press.
The coast guard said 316 passengers were rescued and at least 15 bodies were found.
Stating that the cause of the ferry sinking is not yet clear and an investigation will be made, Dua added that the coast guard cleaned the ferry before it left Zamboanga port and there were no signs of overloading.
Maritime accidents are common in the Philippine archipelago due to frequent storms, poorly maintained ships, overcrowding, and uneven enforcement of safety regulations, especially in remote provinces.
In December 1987, the Dona Paz ferry sank after colliding with a fuel tanker in the central Philippines, killing more than 4,300 people in the world’s worst peacetime maritime disaster.
