Ferry fire death toll rises to 35 in the Philippines

The death toll from a fire that tore through a passenger ferry in the Philippines has risen to at least 35, as more bodies were recovered from the charred vessel. The fire broke out Wednesday night near southwestern Palawan province, and fifty-four people remain missing, the coast guard said. There were 43 survivors.

The ferry, MV June Aster, sailed from the capital, Manila, and was about 4.5 miles off the village of Turda near its destination of Coron when the fire was reported. The cause of the blaze has not been determined, according to coast guard officials.

Images released by the coast guard showed the interior of the ship reduced to ashes, with what appeared to be human remains, burnt metalcars, and other debris.

Survivors describe panic

One survivor, Arnulfo Nokki Villanueva, recounted in a video broadcast by News5 how the fire spread so quickly that he had no time to grab a life jacket. "The fire quickly spread. That's when I dropped to the ground and my back was burned," he said. He added that he jumped from a window, but "people were stepping on me. People were in panic."

Rescuers on Thursday struggled to enter the vessel because of heat and smoke, slowing efforts to search for passengers who may have been trapped. On Friday, the death toll rose to 35 as more bodies were recovered.

Families await word

Lira Daco, waiting at a rescue center in Turda for news of her missing 20-year-old daughter, Cyriel, expressed the anguish of families. "It's painful to think that your child was asking for help while she was burning alive," she said. "I don't know how we can find out which one is my child. It's OK if she just drowned and we can recover her body and give her a proper burial. But now we can't recognize or hug her."

Official details and investigation

According to the ferry's manifest, 134 people were onboard: 117 passengers and 17 crew. The 174-foot vessel had a capacity to carry 306 passengers and 27 crew. Two passengers listed in the manifest reported to authorities that they failed to board, the coast guard said.

Thirty charred bodies were brought to a port in Coron on Saturday for identification. Coast guard officials said retrieval operations would continue as more bodies were still inside the MV June Aster, without providing a count. Tents were set up at the Port of Borac in Coron, where body bags were being unloaded from a ship that transported them from the burned ferry. The bodies will be turned over to the local government, with police assisting in identifying the remains.

Commodore Noemie Cayabyab, the coast guard spokesperson, said authorities are looking for the ferry's captain, who reportedly survived but is not listed among the survivors. She added that a multiagency investigation will examine all aspects, including the possible liability of the captain and crew.

Survivors said the incident happened quickly, with no time to get life jackets. Investigators will also check whether fire emergency procedures were followed, including whether the captain sounded an alarm and whether the crew assisted passengers.

The fire is the latest in a series of maritime disasters in the Philippines, where ferries are a common mode of transport across the archipelago. In 1987, the ferry Dona Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker, killing more than 4,300 people in the world's deadliest peacetime maritime disaster.

The cause of the MV June Aster fire remains under investigation, and search efforts are continuing.