At least five people have been killed and dozens remain missing after a passenger ferry caught fire on Wednesday night in waters off the island of Palawan in the western Philippines, according to the Philippine Coast Guard. The blaze broke out aboard the MV June Aster, which was carrying passengers and goods from Manila to Palawan, a voyage that was nearing its end when the fire erupted.
The Coast Guard said 43 people had been rescued by Wednesday night, though this figure was later refined to 42 on Thursday before being revised again. Coast Guard spokesperson Commodore Noemie Cayabyab told radio station DZXL that the ship's manifest listed 117 passengers and 17 crew members, totaling 134 people on board. Based on the number of survivors and fatalities, authorities estimated that more than 80 people remained unaccounted for, with Cayabyab cautioning that the figures were "live data" that could change as search and rescue operations continued.
Rescue efforts hampered by smoke and currents
Rescue operations were complicated by thick smoke billowing from the burned vessel and strong sea currents that dragged the ferry away from its original location. The Coast Guard deployed five vessels and divers to the area, with support from army rescue boats, fishermen, and private resort owners. A larger Coast Guard vessel was also being deployed, according to Cayabyab.
The ferry had sent a distress signal around 6:45 p.m. local time when it was about 4 nautical miles off the village of Turda, but strong currents had carried it to a point 7.68 nautical miles away by the time rescue teams arrived. The fire, which erupted at around 6 p.m. Wednesday, was still burning as of Thursday morning, preventing responders from boarding the vessel to assess the situation.
"Our objective now is to enter the ship, to check the situation so we can assess the situation," Cayabyab said on Thursday night.
Survivor accounts of the fire
Survivors described a rapidly spreading fire that left little time to escape. Richard Marceliano, one of the rescued passengers, told GMA News that he saw a small amount of smoke that quickly turned into a raging fire and spread through the ferry within seconds. He said he and other passengers spent nearly two hours floating in the sea before being rescued.
Another survivor, Arnulfo Nokki Villanueva, recounted in a video broadcast by News5: "The fire quickly spread. That's when I dropped to the ground and my back was burned. I wanted to get a life jacket but failed to get one because people were stepping on me. People were in panic."
Roland Lerma, speaking to the BBC from a hospital in Coron, described the chaos: "When I was on the floor, people were trampling me." He said he crawled until he could find his footing before leaping off the vessel into the sea, then floated on his back for about two hours until rescuers arrived.
The Coast Guard said it had not yet been able to interview the rescued individuals, as many were still in shock. The survivors were taken to an evacuation centre in Barangay Turda, north of Marcilla.
Investigation underway
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, the Coast Guard said. A statement from the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA), citing survivor accounts, said two successive explosions were heard from within the ship, which triggered the fire. Based on enquiries with one survivor, the fire may have started in the cargo hold before spreading, according to Cayabyab, as reported by the BBC.
The vessel, built in 2002, had a capacity of 306 passengers and 33 crew, and had undergone a compliance inspection in March, including checks on life jackets, according to the Coast Guard.
Among the rescued were two Chilean nationals, said Rachel Conserman, a staffer of the ship's owner, Atienza Interisland Ferries Inc. The company issued a statement saying it was coordinating with the coast guard and maritime officials to locate missing passengers and cooperating fully with authorities to determine the cause of the fire.
Families await news as search continues
The search for survivors resumed on Friday, with the Coast Guard revising the number of missing to 84 from 86 after two people listed on the manifest confirmed they had not boarded the vessel. As rescue teams worked to enter the burned ferry, families gathered at a port in Coron and outside the shipowner's office in Manila, seeking information about their loved ones.
Anelyn Magbanua, whose husband Marlon was on the ferry, told the BBC she had gone to a hospital in Coron hoping to find him among the survivors, but he remained unaccounted for. Evelyn Umpad, 64, told Rappler she went to the shipowner's office after the company failed to answer her repeated calls seeking information about her son and daughter-in-law, who were travelling to Taytay in Palawan to buy land.
"We kept calling but nobody was answering," Umpad said. "They took my number and said they would call back, but no one contacted us, so we came here ourselves to find out the situation."
Maritime accidents are common in the Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands where ferries are a vital mode of transport. Poor vessel maintenance, overcrowding, and spotty enforcement of safety regulations have been blamed for past disasters. In 2023, 31 people died in a fire aboard the Lady Mary Joy 3 ferry, and in 1987, the ferry Doña Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker, killing more than 4,300 people in the world's deadliest peacetime maritime disaster.
As of Friday morning, the death toll stood at five, with 43 people rescued and 84 still missing. Search operations continued, with the Coast Guard expanding efforts to coastal communities in Mindoro in case some passengers had drifted ashore.