15 dead, hundreds rescued after Philippine ferry accident

2026-01-26 - 07:19

MANILA — At least 15 people have died after a ferry carrying more than 350 passengers and crew members onboard sank in southern Philippines.Search crews have rescued 316 people on board the MV Trisha Kerstin 3, the Philippine Coast Guard said on Monday as the search continued for the dozens still missing.The accident occurred at 1:50 a.m. [1750 GMT] on Monday while the passenger vessel was en route to Jolo in Sulu province after departing from Zamboanga. The PCG said the vessel, operating within its authorised passenger capacity of 352, had 332 passengers on board and 27 crew.Search and rescue teams scouring the area in relatively calm waters have helped speed up operations, Coast Guard Commander Romel Dua of Southern Mindanao District said by phone. He said 28 remain missing.Dua said an investigation was underway to determine the cause of the accident. Military aircraft and vessels have been deployed to assist rescue efforts, Dua added.Mujiv Hataman, governor of the island province of Basilan, shared clips from the scene at Mindanao's Isabela port on Facebook, showing survivors being ushered off boats, with some wrapped in thermal blankets and others being carried on stretchers.Authorities say they are investigating the cause of the sinking. The Philippines — an archipelago nation of 7,100 islands — has a long history of maritime disasters involving inter-island ferries."Based on the account of some survivors, the waters in the area were rough at the time," Philippine Coast Guard spokeswoman Noemie Cayabyab said in a televised interview, according to an AFP report.Rescuers have been overwhelmed by the influx of survivors, Basilan emergency responder Ronalyn Perez told AFP."The challenge really is the number of patients that are coming in. We are short-staffed at the moment," Perez said.Poor maintenance and overloading have been blamed for past ferry accidents in the Philippines. — Agencies