MANILA—On Thursday, rescuers in the Philippines searched the smoldering remnants of a burnt-out ferry for survivors or additional victims of a fire that swept through the inter-island vessel, killing 29 people, including a 6-month-old infant, authorities said.
The cause of the fire, which began at 11 p.m., has yet to be determined. (1500 GMT) on Wednesday off the southern island of Basilan, while many passengers were fast sleeping in air-conditioned rooms on the lower deck of the ferry.
“I thought I was dreaming but when I opened my eyes it was dark and we were surrounded by smoke,” Mina Nani, 46, a passenger on the MV Lady Mary Joy 3, told DZRH radio.
She said she was able to survive by jumping from the ship and sharing a floating device with another passenger until they were rescued.
There were different reports about how many passengers were aboard the ship, which officials claimed was not overcrowded. According to the coast guard, 225 individuals were rescued, including 36 crew members.
Eleven individuals perished after leaping from the blazing ship, including three children, while 18 died in the fire on board, according to Governor Hadjiman Hataman Salliman.
“We have yet to explore the entire ship because it’s still hot,” Salliman said of the beached vessel.
The coast guard head in the Mindanao zone, Commodore Rejard Marfe, told Reuters that there was "chaos" after the growing fire woke people up, and the 18 dead found onboard were "completely charred."
The Philippines, an archipelago of over 7,600 islands, has a terrible track record for marine safety, with boats frequently overloaded and a large number of aged ships in service.
A fire aboard a high-speed ferry carrying 134 people killed at least seven individuals in May.
In 1987, the world's worst peacetime maritime accident occurred when an overcrowded passenger ferry, the Dona Paz, collided with an oil tanker off Mindoro island, south of Manila.
