Passenger Ferry Sinks Off Philippines Coast
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - A ferry with at least 84 passengers and crew on board sank on Saturday off the coast of central Philippines. Authorities are searching for at least 21 people who remain missing.
The vessel, Maharlika II, is believed to have suffered mechanical problems before strong waves swept it off course, forcing passengers to abandon ship near the island of Leyte, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRM) said in a statement.
Three ships, including a foreign-registered liquefied petroleum gas carrier, rushed to the area where the ferry sank and rescued 63 people, coast guard spokesman Commander Armand Balilo told Reuters.
"Rescue boats had trouble reaching them because the waves were really huge," NDRRM spokeswoman Mina Marasigan said.
Rescue ships are still searching for the remaining crew and passengers, and there are so far no reports of any fatalities, NDRRM stressed.
The ferry had reported "problems with steering" and had also been buffeted by heavy rains, worsened by Typhoon Kalmaegi, which is approaching the northern Philippines, Marasigan said.
Although only 84 passengers and crew were listed on the ship's manifest, it is common practice in the Philippines for some passengers to board ferries unlisted.
Scores, sometimes hundreds, of people die each year in ferry accidents in the Philippines, an archipelago of 7,100 islands with a notoriously poor record for maritime safety.
Frequent accidents in the Philippines have claimed hundreds of lives in recent years, including the world's worst peacetime maritime disaster in 1987 when the Dona Paz ferry collided with an oil tanker, leaving more than 4,300 dead.
