On Wednesday night a fire broke out on the MV June Aster, a ferry bound for Palawan’s Coron, killing five people and leaving dozens missing.
Passengers were sleeping on bunk beds when the blaze started just 1.2 nautical miles from the coast. The flames reportedly sprang from the cargo hold after a loud explosion.
Survivor Roland Lerma, a construction worker from Leyte, told BBC News that he slipped, fell, and was trampled by fellow passengers before he forced himself onto the deck and leapt into the sea. He floated for two hours before rescuers pulled him out.
He and several neighbours were later admitted to hospitals in Coron, while a second survivor travelled to a larger hospital on the island of Culion. Two Chilean nationals were among the rescued.
Families are on edge: a husband’s wife, Anelyn Magbanua, rushed to the hospital after learning the ferry caught fire but her husband remains unaccounted for.
Rescue teams continue to monitor the still-unextinguished, smoky wreck while investigators seek to determine the cause of the tragedy.
