Five people were killed after a Ro-Pax ferry suffered an onboard fire while off Palawan province in the Western Philippines on Wednesday, September 9.
The locally-owned ferry June Aster was underway near Palawan's Coron municipality when the blaze ignited in an undisclosed area of the vessel on the late evening (local time) of Wednesday.
The Philippine Coast Guard confirmed that the vessel had 117 passengers and 17 crewmembers at the time of the incident.
The ferry was already engulfed in flames by the time coast guard personnel and assets including the Parola-class multi-role response vessel BRP Suluan arrived off Coron to render assistance.
Five people who were on the ferry are confirmed dead while only 42 survivors have been recorded as of 02:00 on Thursday, September 10. The coast guard said the five deceased individuals will be turned over to local disaster response authorities for proper disposition.
Local news outlet ANC reported that other people who were also on the ferry are still missing but no estimates have been provided.
The coast guard confirmed that search and rescue operations in the area and monitoring of the condition of the vessel and possible marine pollution will continue.
June Aster's AIS track showed that she had just departed Manila and was approaching her final destination of Coron when the incident occurred.
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