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The governor mentioned most of these onboard the MV Woman Mary Pleasure 3 had been rescued in a single day however authorities had been double-checking the numbers from totally different rescue groups, suggesting the figures may change.
The ferry was enroute to Jolo city in Sulu province from the southern port metropolis of Zamboanga when it caught fireplace halfway off Basilan near midnight, he mentioned.
The lifeless included a minimum of three youngsters, who apparently had been separated from their mother and father, and a minimum of 23 passengers had been injured and delivered to hospitals, he mentioned.
“A few of the passengers had been roused from sleep as a result of commotion brought on by the fireplace. Some jumped off the ship,” Hataman informed The Related Press by phone.
Most of those that died drowned and had been recovered at sea, officers mentioned.
The burned ferry has been towed to Basilan’s shoreline and an investigation was underway, Hataman mentioned.
Sea accidents are frequent within the Philippine archipelago due to frequent storms, badly maintained boats, overcrowding and spotty enforcement of security laws, particularly in distant provinces.
In December 1987, the ferry Dona Paz sank after colliding with a gasoline tanker, killing greater than 4,300 folks on the planet’s worst peacetime maritime catastrophe.
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