Rescuers recovered the remains of 41 people after a ferry fire in the Philippines, authorities said on Saturday, raising the death toll to 76 and leaving 13 people unaccounted for.
The fire broke out aboard the June Aster ferry at around 6.45pm local time on Wednesday in waters off the island of Coron, Palawan, the Philippine Coast Guard said.
Forensic teams faced the daunting task of identifying the victims. That painstaking process had already begun after 30 bodies recovered on Friday were brought to a port in Coron town, where temporary tents were set up for forensic teams to process and identify the dead.
The vessel had departed from Manila and was travelling to Coron when it caught fire. The ferry's manifest of 134 people included 117 passengers and 17 crew.
Firefighters entered the ferry for the first time on Friday after extinguishing the blaze more than a day after it broke out, giving authorities access to areas that had been hard to reach because of thick smoke and extreme heat. The Coast Guard said burnt remains were discovered in the ferry's economy accommodation section.
Images released by the Coast Guard showed the scale of the destruction inside the vessel, with rows of steel bed frames twisted by intense heat and blanketed in ash. Some photographs appeared to show skeletal remains among the debris.
Missing family members
Responders in protective suits were seen carrying black body bags from a Coast Guard vessel into the tents as anxious family members waited nearby for news of their loved ones.
One of them was Anelyn Magbanua, 37, whose husband was returning to Coron after visiting their children in Manila when the ferry, which was carrying more than 130 people, caught fire near the end of its more than 20-hour journey.
"I hope he is not among the dead being brought off the ship. I hope he is alive and has only drifted to another island," she said.
"It will be very difficult to accept if he's really gone," she said. "He loved his children very much."
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The MV June Aster ferry that caught fire on Wednesday near a tourist hotspot in the Philippine province of Palawan. AFP -
Locals help people disembark the burning boat. AFP -
Members of the Philippine coast guard work to rescue a passenger in the water. Reuters -
Flames and smoke rise from the vessel. Reuters -
Passengers are rescued from the boat. EPA -
The burning ferry. Reuters -
The burnt out boat after the fire was extinguished. AFP
Philippine coastguard official Geronimo Tuvilla said at a press conference on Saturday that the immediate priority was to identify the victims and determine the cause of the fire.
A statement from the Maritime Industry Authority, citing survivors' accounts, said two explosions were heard inside the vessel shortly before the fire broke out.
One survivor interviewed by GMA News recalled seeing a small amount of smoke that turned into a fire and quickly spread through the ferry within seconds.
Questions also remained over the fate of the vessel's captain. Coastguard spokesperson Commodore Noemie Cayabyab said at the same press conference that she had received information that he was alive, but added that the captain's name was not on the list of 43 confirmed survivors.
The fire is the latest in a string of deadly maritime accidents in the Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,600 islands, where millions rely on ferries and small boats to travel between provinces and islands.
