Philippine ferry fire death toll reaches 35 as 53 people remain missing off Coron

The death toll from the fire on the passenger-cargo ferry MV June Aster rose to 35 on Friday after Philippine Coast Guard teams recovered 30 bodies from the burned hull off Coron, Palawan. A Saturday briefing put survivors at 43 and the missing at 53. The remains were due at the Port of Borac in Coron around 11 a.m. Saturday on the patrol ship BRP Cape Engaño.

The fire was reported at about 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday, 9 September, when the 53-metre vessel was 7.4 kilometres off the village of Turda, near the end of a voyage of more than 20 hours from Baseco in Manila. Coron is a diving and island-hopping destination in northern Palawan. The ship later ran aground. The coast guard declared the fire out at about 10:15 a.m. on Friday. Heat and smoke had blocked boarding for more than a day.

Who was on board

The manifest listed 134 people: 117 passengers and 17 crew. Two people listed never boarded, which cut the earlier missing count. The ship's rated capacity was 306 passengers and 27 crew. Atienza Shipping, the operator, said four crew members were missing. The captain survived. Two Chilean tourists were among those rescued, according to a staff member of Atienza Interisland Ferries.

Bodies recovered on Friday were found in the economy accommodation area. Coast guard spokeswoman Commodore Noemie Cayabyab told AFP that 30 cadavers filled the patrol boat used for the first transfer and that more remains were still on the ferry. Retrieval began at 5:16 p.m. Friday. Images released by the service showed berths reduced to twisted metal and ash, and a burned vehicle in the cargo spaces.

Explosions, then seconds of fire

The Maritime Industry Authority, citing survivor accounts, said two successive explosions were heard inside the ship before the blaze. Cayabyab earlier told radio that the fire began in the cargo hold and moved through the vessel in seconds. The ferry was carrying goods, an electric vehicle, a pickup truck and motorcycles.

Richard Marceliano told GMA News he saw a small amount of smoke become a wall of flame almost at once. He and others spent nearly two hours in the water. Another survivor said he could not reach a life jacket because people were stepping on him. Some of those pulled from the sea were not wearing vests. Seven survivors were taken to a hospital in Culion, which has more beds than Coron.

Forty-two people were first brought to the covered court in Barangay Turda. The rescued total later rose to 43. Families waited on shore while firefighters could not enter. When they did, the count of the dead jumped from five to 35 in a single afternoon.

A familiar Philippine risk

The country of about 116 million people depends on inter-island ferries. Overcrowding, old hulls, mixed cargo and weak enforcement have produced repeated disasters. The June Aster was not reported as overloaded on this run. The combination of vehicles in the hold, two reported explosions and a fire that closed the economy deck still fits a known pattern: once flame takes the enclosed passenger spaces, escape routes shrink fast.

Identification work now sits with local authorities in Palawan. The coast guard is still searching the water and the wreck. Cause remains under investigation. For relatives the immediate facts are the ones that can be counted: 35 confirmed dead, 43 alive, 53 unaccounted for, a burned 53-metre ferry on the coral shallows off a town that lives on visitors arriving by sea.