Death toll rises to 76 following ferry fire in Philippines

LAST UPDATE | 16 hrs ago

THE DEATH TOLL has risen to 76 after a fire broke out onboard a ferry off the western Philippines on Wednesday.

The blaze broke out on the M/V June Aster on Wednesday evening about 2.2 kilometres offshore, the country’s coastguard said.

Philippine disaster agency workers carried coffins to a cemetery in the resort town of Coron today, where officials had dug 70 graves on the instruction of disaster officials.

The confirmed death toll is 76 people, counting 41 bodies discovered on board the boat on Saturday, 30 bodies included in the initial transfer from the wrecked ferry and five others recovered earlier.

Coast guard spokeswoman Noemie Cayabyab told AFP on Friday that the initial transfer had been capped at 30 bodies due to the capacity of the patrol vessel transporting them.

Thirty passengers, including two Chilean nationals, and 13 crew have been rescued, while about 50 people remain unaccounted for, according to the coast guard.

The one-metre (three-feet) deep graves are intended to hold the victims’ remains until DNA testing is completed, Kristine Ablana, a tourism official serving as an official spokesperson, told reporters today.

Relatives will first be brought into a room to identify personal items that may have belonged to family members.

The ferry had sailed from the capital Manila and was near its destination of Coron in the province of Palawan when the fire started on Wednesday

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Video shared by the coast guard on Facebook showed the vessel completely engulfed in flames.

During the initial rescue operation, the coastguard made a radio broadcast to ships nearby to be on the lookout for passengers of the ferry. It has also coordinated with coastal villages in case some passengers drifted to the shore.

Images of the nighttime rescue efforts showed coastguard personnel throwing life jackets to survivors as the ferry burned in the background. Passengers were helped into smaller boats taking them to shallow water.

Bad weather and big waves challenged rescuers. The ferry was around four nautical miles off the 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 coastguard 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 on board.

In January, a triple-decker ferry carrying more than 340 people sank off the southern Philippines, killing at least 52 people.

The M/V 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.

With reporting from Press Association and AFP