Philippine Coast Guard officers tend to survivors from a ferry that went down in the Sulu Sea off the southwestern Philippines in the early hours of Monday. Photo courtesy Philippine Coast Guard/EPA
At least 18 people were killed and 24 remain missing Monday after an overnight ferry sank off the southwestern Philippines.
The Philippine Coast Guard, which pulled 317 survivors from the water, was continuing to search for the missing passengers and crew from the MV Trisha Kerstin 3, a 620-ton roll-on, roll-off ferry that was on its way to Jolo Island from Zamboanga City on Mindanao Island in the far south of the country.
Coast guard spokesperson Capt. Noemie Cayabyab told GMA News that distress call that the vessel issued a distress call without warning about four-and-a-half hours into its journey at 1:50 a.m. local time, but that sea conditions were rough in the area due to a northeast monsoon.
“There is an ongoing investigation into the cause of the sinking,” she added.
Coast guard Commander Romel Dua said 332 passengers and 27 crew were on board, well with the maximum permitted capacity. He said that a coast guard safety officer on board the Trisha Kerstin 3 raised the alarm after it ran into techinical problems.
That triggered a major rescue operation involving a Philippine coast guard vessel, a surveillance plane, an Air Force Black Hawk helicopter. Local fishermen also joined in the effort.
However, Dua said that sea conditions were comparatively light, which made rescuers task easier than it might have been.
“We cannot say for now the reason of the sinking, but we were instructed to conduct a marine casualty investigation to determine the cause,” said Dua.
The Philippine Star reported that the Trisha Kerston 3 was operated by Zamboanga City-headquartered Aleson Shipping Lines and that the incident was the company’s second fatal incident on the same route in under three years.
At least 29 people, including three children, were killed in a blaze on the MV Lady Mary Joy 3 in March 2023, after an explosion on board off Baluk-Baluk Island, the same area where the Trisha Kerston 3 went down.
Ferry is a key mode of affordable transport in the Philippines, an archipelago nation comprising more than 7,000 islands, but accidents are common due to bad weather, overcrowding and poor regulation and maintenance.
At least 26 people were killed in July 2023 when a passenger vessel capsized on Laguna de Bay, a large inland lake southeast of Manila, during a typhoon.
In May 2022, at least seven people were killed when a ferry caught fire off the east coast of the Philippines’ main Luzon island, forcing dozens to jump overboard.
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