Firefighters entered a badly damaged passenger ferry in Philippine waters on Friday as rescuers searched for 84 people still missing after a fire killed five passengers.
The MV June Aster caught fire on Wednesday night about 7.4 kilometres off Turda village near Coron in Palawan province while travelling from Manila. Rescue teams had struggled to enter the smoke-filled vessel, halting operations overnight. Coast guard images showed personnel boarding the ferry as smoke appeared to have stopped. Officials said they had not yet received updates on possible additional casualties inside.
The coast guard said 43 people had been rescued from the burning vessel and surrounding waters. According to the manifest, 134 people were on board, including 117 passengers and 17 crew members.
“The fire quickly spread. That’s when I dropped to the ground and my back was burned,” survivor Arnulfo Nokki Villanueva said. “I wanted to get a life jacket but failed to get one because people were stepping on me. People were in panic.”
The cause of the fire remains unknown.
Two tourists from Chile were among the survivors, according to Rachel Conserman, a staff member of the ferry operator Atienza Interisland Ferries Inc. They were recovering in a hospital in Coron.
