Ferry Fire Off Palawan Kills 5, 87 Missing
Ferry Fire Off Palawan Kills 5, 87 Missing
The News
At least five people are dead and 87 are missing after fire engulfed a passenger ferry off the Philippine island province of Palawan, the country's coast guard said.
Fire tore through the passenger ferry MV June Aster off Coron, a tourist hub in Palawan, killing at least five people and leaving 87 unaccounted for, the Philippine Coast Guard said Thursday local time.
Forty-two passengers and crew have been rescued, according to the coast guard.
Search and rescue teams were still working the water as the toll was announced, and officials cautioned the numbers could change. The cause of the blaze has not been established.
The Numbers
The Philippine Daily Inquirer, citing the Coast Guard District–Palawan, reported that 117 passengers and 17 crew members were aboard, and that the vessel was about 1.2 nautical miles northeast of Barangay Marcilla in Coron when it caught fire.
Timeline
The Coast Guard District–Palawan receives a report that the MV June Aster is engulfed in flames northeast of Barangay Marcilla off Coron, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Search and rescue operations begin.
Coast guard crews pull 42 passengers and crew from the scene.
The coast guard puts the confirmed death toll at five, with 87 people still unaccounted for. France 24, CTV News and The Sun report the figures.
Reactions
The Philippine Coast Guard confirmed the five deaths and the 87 missing, and said search and rescue operations were continuing.
Officials warned the casualty figures could still change while crews worked to establish what happened aboard the ferry, France 24 reported.
The Sun described the blaze as a "monster fire" that erupted aboard the vessel off Coron, one of the country's best-known tourist destinations.
What's Next
The coast guard's search for the 87 missing passengers and crew continues, and the death toll is expected to move as more people are accounted for.
Investigators have not yet said what started the fire; a cause determination will follow the rescue effort.
More
Coron sits at the northern end of Palawan and draws foreign tourists to its dive sites and island-hopping boats, making inter-island ferries a routine way to move people between the islands.
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