Ferry fire in Philippines kills 35, leaves 54 people missing

The fire that destroyed a passenger ferry in the Philippines has killed at least 35 people. The blaze spread so quickly that one survivor said he could not get a life jacket as panicked passengers stepped on him while trying to escape.

Fifty-four people remain missing after the fire broke out on the ferry on Wednesday night near Palawan province in the southwestern Philippines. There were 43 survivors. Coast guard images showed the charred interior of the vessel, along with what appeared to be human remains, ashes and burnt metal, including a car.

"The fire quickly spread. That's when I dropped to the ground and my back was burned," Arnulfo Nokki Villanueva said in a video broadcast by News5. He said he escaped by jumping from a window. "I wanted to get a life jacket but failed to get one because people were stepping on me. People were in panic."

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

The ferry had sailed from Manila and was about 7.4 kilometres from the village of Turda, near its destination of Coron in Palawan province, when the fire was reported. The cause of the blaze has not yet been determined.

"It's painful to think that your child was asking for help while she was burning alive," Lira Daco said at a rescue centre in Turda, where she was waiting for information about her missing 20-year-old daughter, Cyriel.

"I don't know how we can find out which one is my child," she said while referring to the remains recovered from the vessel. "It's OK if she just drowned and we can recover her body and give her a proper burial. But now we can't recognise or hug her."

According to the manifest, 134 people were on board, including 117 passengers and 17 crew members. The 53-metre vessel had a capacity of 306 passengers and 27 crew members. The coast guard said two passengers listed on the manifest had informed authorities that they had not boarded the ferry.

Rachel Conserman, a staff member of the ship's owner Atienza Interisland Ferries Inc., said two survivors were tourists from Chile. They were recovering from injuries at a hospital in Coron, she said, adding that no other foreigners were known to have been on board.

Coron is a popular tourist destination known for its clear blue waters, limestone cliffs and rock formations.

Ferries are widely used for transportation across the Philippine archipelago. Maritime accidents are not uncommon because of storms, poorly maintained vessels, overcrowding and inconsistent enforcement of safety regulations, particularly in remote provinces. 

In 1987, the ferry Dona Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker in the central Philippines, killing more than 4,300 people in what is considered the world's deadliest peacetime maritime disaster.  (with inputs from PTI)