Over 100 missing in Philippine ferry tragedy

Over 100 missing in Philippine ferry tragedy

CEBU, Philippines (Agencies): Three people were killed and over 100 are missing after a Philippine ferry caught fire at sea in the latest tragedy to hit a country with a long record of maritime disasters, officials said on Sunday.

MV Rosario II sent out a distress signal hours after leaving the port of Cebu early Saturday for nearby Masbate province, Commander Clinio Yalaw, duty officer at coastguard headquarters in Manila said.

The ferry, owned by Lapu-Lapu Shipping Lines, was four nautical miles off the shores of Cataingan pier in Masbate when its engine was reported to have caught fire, causing panic among the boat's 210 passengers and 28 crew members, many of whom jumped into sea without life jackets, Yalaw said.

The 236-ton ferry, bought from Japan five years ago.

Passengers Maximo Bulon, Aniano Tumangan and Nonito Abacador drowned while 73 survivors, including seven crew members, were rescued by the coastguard, Yalaw said.

"We believe many others survived because we are getting reports that volunteers have rescued people and taken them to nearby coastal areas," deputy Masbate coastguard commander Ronaldo Botin told Reuters.

"These survivors were not on our list because they went straight home. Our people are now going from one village to another to check how many they are," Botin said.

"We saw smoke coming from the engine room, then the lights went out. People started jumping overboard," a passenger said.

The Philippines' sorry maritime record includes the death of more than 4,000 people in December 1987 when the ferry Dona Paz and an oil tanker collided near Manila in the world's worst peacetime sea disaster.

Despite the frequency of disasters, ferries remain the most popular means of long-haul transport in this largely impoverished archipelago of more than 7,000 islands because fares are cheaper than air travel.

Overloading and frequent typhoons -- an average of 20 hit the country every year -- heighten the perils of sea travel in a nation where about 5,000 passenger and cargo boats criss-cross the islands every day.

The government has launched a program to upgrade the industry but over-age vessels continue to ply Philippine waters, Botin said.

Typhoon Olga, with winds of 120 kilometer-per-hour near its center, was raging in the north of the country on Saturday but the coastguard said the waters off Masbate were only slightly choppy when tragedy hit the Rosalia II.

Botin said the coastguard did not know what caused the fire and was investigating.

Last year, 51 people died when the Princess of the Orient ferry sank off the shore of Manila while in 1996, 50 people died in the sinking of another ferry, Gretchen I also in the central Philippines.

In December 1987 the ferry Dona Paz collided with an oil tanker off the island of Mindoro, killing more 4,000 people in what is described as the world's worst peacetime maritime tragedy.