By Kathleen Magramo, CNN
A minimum of 29 folks died Wednesday night time after an inter-island ferry caught hearth within the southern Philippines, with lots of the 250 passengers leaping overboard into darkish waters making an attempt to flee the blaze, authorities mentioned.
The Philippine Coast Guard mentioned on Thursday that search and rescue efforts are persevering with after a hearth broke out on the MV Woman Mary Pleasure 3 round 11 p.m. native time because it was crusing southwest from Zamboanga province towards Jolo province. from Sulu.
About 35 passengers jumped off the ship after listening to an explosion, Arsina Kahing-Nanoh, a municipal mayor in Basilan province, instructed CNN affiliate. CNN Philippines.
Basilan residents went to shore to attempt to save those that jumped from the ship after seeing from afar that the ship had caught hearth and was heading in direction of their distant island, he mentioned.
“Among the passengers had burns on their our bodies,” he instructed CNN Philippines.
Dramatic movies launched by the Basilan provincial authorities present the ship in flames because it washes ashore, as crowds of residents attempt to save survivors from the wreckage.
Grey smoke was nonetheless billowing from the ship after the hearth was put out Thursday morning.
The Philippines, an archipelago of greater than 7,600 islands, has a poor maritime security file and vessels within the Southeast Asian nation are sometimes outdated and overcrowded.
In Could of final yr, no less than seven folks had been killed when a excessive velocity ferry carrying 134 folks caught hearth about 60 kilometers (37 miles) east of the capital Manila.
Earlier this month, a tanker truck carrying 800,000 liters (211,340 gallons) of business gasoline oil sank in Japanese Mindoro province southwest of Manila, polluting the coastlines of no less than three provinces and threatening the nation’s numerous marine life.
The CNN Wire
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