Philippine Ferry Overturns With 350 Onboard, 15 Dead

Rescue teams pulled at least 300 people to safety after an inter-island ferry went down early Monday while traveling from Zamboanga port to Jolo Island in the south.

At least 15 people died when a boat carrying more than 350 people sank off an island in the southern Philippines early Monday, according to local officials, while the coast guard warned that 28 people were still missing.

Coast guard officials said the M/V Trisha Kerstin 3, an inter-island cargo and passenger ferry, was traveling from the port city of Zamboanga to the southern island of Jolo in Sulu province with 332 passengers and 27 crew members when it experienced technical difficulties and sank shortly after midnight.

Coast Guard Commander Romel Dua told The Associated Press that the ferry sank in good weather about one nautical mile (1.8 km) from the island village of Baluk-Baluk in Basilan province, where many of the survivors were initially taken.

“There was a coast guard safety officer on board the ship, and he was the first to call us to alert us to send rescue vessels,” Dua said, adding that the safety officer survived.

Dua said coast guard and navy ships, a surveillance plane, an air force Black Hawk helicopter, and a fleet of fishing boats were conducting search and rescue operations near Basilan.

Basilan Provincial Governor Mujiv Hataman said several passengers and two bodies were brought to the provincial capital of Isabela, where he and ambulance vans were waiting.

Hatamun told The Associated Press, “I’m seeing 37 people here at the dock. Unfortunately, two have died.”

The coast guard said 316 passengers had been rescued and at least 15 bodies recovered.

Dua said the cause of the ferry sinking was not immediately clear and would be investigated. He said the coast guard had cleared the ferry before it departed from Zamboanga port and that there was no indication of overloading.

Maritime accidents are common in the Philippine archipelago, which is frequently hit by storms and where vessels are often poorly maintained and overcrowded, and safety regulations are not strictly enforced, particularly in remote areas.

In December 1987, the ferry Doña Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker in the central Philippines, killing more than 4,300 people in the world’s worst peacetime maritime disaster.