By Karen Lema and Jay Ereno
MANILA, Sept 11 (Reuters) – Philippine firefighters on Friday managed to board a burned-out ferry more than a day after the ship caught fire on its way from Manila to the western province of Palawan, killing five people and leaving more than 80 missing.
Thick smoke and extreme heat had prevented firefighters from boarding the ferry, which a manifest said was carrying 117 passengers and 17 crew members when it was engulfed in flames on Wednesday night.
The Philippine Coast Guard revised the number of missing from 86 to 84 after authorities verified two people originally listed on the manifest had not been on board. The number of people rescued stood at 43.
Aerial footage showed a Coast Guard helicopter hovering above the burned ferry, whose upper decks were blackened by fire. While light smoke continued to rise from parts of the vessel, it was noticeably thinner than the thick plumes seen a day earlier. Two firefighters could be seen on an upper deck.
Richard Marceliano, one of the survivors, told GMA News he saw a small amount of smoke that quickly turned into a raging fire and spread through the ferry within seconds. He said he and other passengers spent nearly two hours floating in the sea before they were rescued.
Outside the office of shipowner Atienza Inter-Island Ferries in Manila, frustrated relatives of missing passengers waited for information about their loved ones after failing to get updates from the company by phone.
Evelyn Umpad, 64, said she went to the shipowner’s office after the company failed to answer her repeated calls seeking information about her son and daughter-in-law, who were travelling to the town of Taytay in Palawan to buy land.
“We kept calling but nobody was answering. They took my number and said they would call back, but no one contacted us, so we came here ourselves to find out the situation,” Umpad said. “My appeal is for them to take action and keep us updated.”
The ferry company has said it was fully cooperating with government authorities investigating the incident.
CAUSE REMAINS UNCLEAR
The Coast Guard has deployed five vessels and divers to the area, while army rescue boats, fishermen and private resort owners continued to assist in the search that began on Wednesday night. Coast Guard spokesperson Commodore Noemie Cayabyab said the Coast Guard would also deploy a larger vessel.
It remained unclear what started the blaze, which broke out as the ferry neared the end of its more than 20-hour voyage to Coron, a popular tourist spot in northern Palawan. A statement from the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA), citing survivor accounts, said two successive explosions were heard from within the ship, which triggered the fire.
The ferry, with capacity for 330 people, was also carrying five motorcycles, an electric vehicle, a forklift, a pickup truck and mostly cargo goods, according to the Coast Guard.
Ferry travel is a common mode of transport in the Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,600 islands, where millions of people rely on boats to travel between provinces.
The country has a patchy maritime safety record, and many previous ferry disasters have been linked to overcrowding, rough weather and lax enforcement of safety regulations.
(Reporting by Karen Lema; Editing by Stephen Coates and Kate Mayberry)
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