Passenger Ferry Fire Off Western Philippines Leaves At Least Five Dead

A passenger ferry caught on fire overnight on Thursday off the western Philippines, killing at least five and leaving dozens of people missing.

The blaze broke out on the M/V June Aster Wednesday evening about 2.2 km offshore, the Philippine Coast Guard said.

The ferry had sailed from the capital Manila and was near its destination of Coron in Palawan province when the blaze broke out on Wednesday night.

More than 40 people have been rescued, Coast Guard spokeswoman Commodore Noemie Cayabyab said, despite challenging weather conditions. Five casualties had been brought ashore.

"Based on the data we have right now on rescued (42) and the casualties, we still have 86 people who are unaccounted for," Cayabyab told a local radio station on Thursday.

She said 134 people were on board, 117 of them passengers and 17 crew. No information was available about any foreigners on board.

"We are continuing search and rescue operations," she said, with a coast guard ship and high-speed response boats joined by a military vessel and other government boats, private volunteers and fishermen.

Passengers were helped into smaller boats taking them to shallow water, and smoke still wafted over the charred vessel by midday on Thursday.

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.