Ferry carrying more than 350 people sinks in southern Philippines

A ferry with more than 350 people on board sank during the night early Monday near an island in the southern Philippines and rescuers have saved at least 316 passengers and retrieved 15 bodies, officials said.

The M/V Trisha Kerstin 3, an inter-island cargo and passenger ferry, was sailing to southern Jolo island in Sulu province from the port city of Zamboanga with 332 passengers and 27 crew members when it apparently encountered technical problems and sank after midnight, coast guard officials said.

The ferry sank in good weather about a nautical mile (nearly 2 kilometers) from the island village of Baluk-baluk in Basilan province, where many of the survivors were initially taken, coast guard commander Romel Dua told The Associated Press.

“There was a coast guard safety officer on board and he was the first to call and alert us to deploy rescue vessels,” Dua said, adding that the safety officer survived.

Coast guard and navy ships, along with a surveillance plane, an air force Black Hawk helicopter and fleets of fishing boats were carrying out search and rescue operations off Basilan, Dua said.

Mujiv Hataman, governor of the island province of Basilan near where the ferry capsized, told The Associated Press that passengers and two bodies were brought to Isabela, the provincial capital.

“I’m receiving 37 people here in the pier. Unfortunately two are dead,” Hataman said from the Isabela pier.

The coast guard said that 244 passengers had been rescued and 13 bodies found.

The cause of the ferry sinking was not immediately clear and there will be an investigation, Dua said, adding that the coast guard cleared the ferry before it left the Zamboanga port and there was no sign of overloading.

Sea accidents are common in the Philippine archipelago because of frequent storms, badly maintained vessels, overcrowding and spotty enforcement of safety regulations, especially in remote provinces.

In December 1987, the ferry Dona Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker in the central Philippines, killing more than 4,300 people in the world’s worst peacetime maritime disaster.

By CNN