Philippines, Sep 10 : The M/V June Aster caught fire on Wednesday evening, about 2.2 km (1.3 miles) off the coast. The bodies of the five people who died in the incident have been brought ashore, the coast guard said .
At least five people have died and 87 are missing after a fire broke out on a boat near a popular tourist destination in the Philippines’ Palawan province, the country’s coast guard said.
A video shared by the coast guard on Facebook showed most of the ship engulfed in flames.
Coast guard Captain Nomi Kayabab told a local radio station today that 42 people had been rescued so far, AFP news agency reported.
Based on the information we have on the rescued and deceased, 87 people are still missing. The total number of passengers and crew on the ship was 134, he said.
This is only the current information. I want to clarify that this number is subject to change as our search and rescue operations continue, Kayabab said. He said that 38 of the rescued people were passengers and four were crew members.
However, he said that he could not get more information from the rescued people as he had not yet been able to speak to them. He added that firefighting operations were also ongoing.
According to a Reuters report, 43 people had been rescued as of Wednesday night.
The ship had set off from Manila and was near Coron in Palawan province when the fire broke out. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
Maritime accidents are common in the Philippines, which has more than 7,000 islands. Monsoon rains and typhoons regularly make sailing here dangerous.
Poor boat maintenance, overloading, and lax enforcement of safety regulations have been blamed for many previous accidents.
In January, a boat carrying more than 350 people sank off the coast of Baluk-Baluk Island, killing at least 18 people.