Death toll in Philippine ferry fire rises to 35 as more bodies are recovered

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CORON, Philippines (AP) — The fire that gutted a passenger ferry in the Philippines, killing at least 35 people, spread so fast that one man didn't have time to get a life jacket as others stepped on him in panic.

Fifty-four people are still missing since the fire tore through the ferry Wednesday night near southwestern Palawan province. There were 43 survivors. Images provided by the coast guard showed the charred interior of the ship and what appeared to be human remains, ashes and burnt metal, including a car.

“The fire quickly spread. That’s when I dropped to the ground and my back was burned,” Arnulfo Nokki Villanueva recounted in a video broadcast by News5. He said that he jumped from a window. “I wanted to get a life jacket but failed to get one because people were stepping on me. People were in panic.”

Rescuers on Thursday struggled to get inside the vessel because of the heat and smoke, slowing efforts to search for passengers who may have been trapped. On Friday, the death toll rose to 35 as more bodies were recovered.

The ferry sailed from the capital, Manila, and was around 7.4 kilometers (4.5 miles) off the village of Turda near its destination of Coron in Palawan province when the fire was reported. The cause of the fire has not been determined.

“It’s painful to think that your child was asking for help while she was burning alive,” Lira Daco said as she waited at a rescue center in Turda for word about her missing 20-year-old daughter, Cyriel.

“I don’t know how we can find out which one is my child,” she added of the remains found inside the ship. “It’s OK if she just drowned and we can recover her body and give her a proper burial. But now we can’t recognize or hug her.”

According to the manifest, 134 people were onboard, 117 of them passengers and 17 crew. The 53-meter (174-foot) vessel had a capacity to carry 306 passengers and 27 crew. Two passengers listed in the manifest reported to authorities that they failed to board, the coast guard said.

Two of the survivors were tourists from Chile, according to Rachel Conserman, a staffer of the ship’s owner Atienza Interisland Ferries Inc. They are recovering from injuries in a hospital in Coron, she said, adding that no other foreigners were known to have been on the ship.

Coron is a popular tourist destination known for clear blue waters, limestone cliffs and rock formations.

Ferries are frequently used for transport in the Philippine archipelago. Sea accidents are not uncommon due to storms, badly maintained vessels, overcrowding and spotty enforcement of safety regulations, especially in remote provinces.

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

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Cerojano reported from Manila, Philippines.