Over 100 missing in Philippine ferry tragedy<\/p>\n
CEBU, Philippines (Agencies): Three people were killed and
\nover 100 are missing after a Philippine ferry caught fire at sea
\nin the latest tragedy to hit a country with a long record of
\nmaritime disasters, officials said on Sunday.<\/p>\n
MV Rosario II sent out a distress signal hours after leaving
\nthe port of Cebu early Saturday for nearby Masbate province,
\nCommander Clinio Yalaw, duty officer at coastguard headquarters
\nin Manila said.<\/p>\n
The ferry, owned by Lapu-Lapu Shipping Lines, was four
\nnautical miles off the shores of Cataingan pier in Masbate when
\nits engine was reported to have caught fire, causing panic among
\nthe boat's 210 passengers and 28 crew members, many of whom
\njumped into sea without life jackets, Yalaw said.<\/p>\n
The 236-ton ferry, bought from Japan five years ago.<\/p>\n
Passengers Maximo Bulon, Aniano Tumangan and Nonito Abacador
\ndrowned while 73 survivors, including seven crew members, were
\nrescued by the coastguard, Yalaw said.<\/p>\n
\"We believe many others survived because we are getting
\nreports that volunteers have rescued people and taken them to
\nnearby coastal areas,\" deputy Masbate coastguard commander
\nRonaldo Botin told Reuters.<\/p>\n
\"These survivors were not on our list because they went
\nstraight home. Our people are now going from one village to
\nanother to check how many they are,\" Botin said.<\/p>\n
\"We saw smoke coming from the engine room, then the lights
\nwent out. People started jumping overboard,\" a passenger said.<\/p>\n
The Philippines' sorry maritime record includes the death of
\nmore than 4,000 people in December 1987 when the ferry Dona Paz
\nand an oil tanker collided near Manila in the world's worst
\npeacetime sea disaster.<\/p>\n
Despite the frequency of disasters, ferries remain the most
\npopular means of long-haul transport in this largely impoverished
\narchipelago of more than 7,000 islands because fares are cheaper
\nthan air travel.<\/p>\n
Overloading and frequent typhoons -- an average of 20 hit the
\ncountry every year -- heighten the perils of sea travel in a
\nnation where about 5,000 passenger and cargo boats criss-cross
\nthe islands every day.<\/p>\n
The government has launched a program to upgrade the industry
\nbut over-age vessels continue to ply Philippine waters, Botin
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Typhoon Olga, with winds of 120 kilometer-per-hour near its
\ncenter, was raging in the north of the country on Saturday but
\nthe coastguard said the waters off Masbate were only slightly
\nchoppy when tragedy hit the Rosalia II.<\/p>\n
Botin said the coastguard did not know what caused the fire
\nand was investigating.<\/p>\n
Last year, 51 people died when the Princess of the Orient
\nferry sank off the shore of Manila while in 1996, 50 people died
\nin the sinking of another ferry, Gretchen I also in the central
\nPhilippines.<\/p>\n
In December 1987 the ferry Dona Paz collided with an oil
\ntanker off the island of Mindoro, killing more 4,000 people in
\nwhat is described as the world's worst peacetime maritime
\ntragedy.<\/p>",
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