The Fort Worth Press - Philippines recovers 30 bodies from ferry after blaze

The coast guard reported earlier that bodies had been found in the economy accommodation area of the M/V June Aster, which ran aground near the tourist hotspot Coron, Palawan after a fire erupted on Wednesday.

"We have 30 on board our (rescue) boat now that will arrive tomorrow," coast guard spokeswoman Commodore Noemie Cayabyab told AFP, explaining that it was the capacity of the patrol boat being used to transfer them.

Asked if bodies still remained aboard the ferry, she replied: "Yes, there are more."

Photos released by the coast guard showed rows of body bags being placed into a small ship alongside men in hazmat suits.

The discovery brings the known death toll from the incident to 35.

Thirty passengers and 13 crew have been rescued. Fifty-four people are still unaccounted for.

Earlier in the day, Cayabyab had told a radio station that the fire began in the cargo hold and tore through the ship within seconds.

"From the time that they heard the loud explosion, the appearance of smoke, and then fire. It spread very quickly," she said of survivors' accounts.

"Everything happened in seconds," she said, adding that those who made it off the ship had not even had time to put on life jackets.

The recovered remains are set to be transported to the Port of Borac in Coron on Saturday morning.

- 'Lost hope' -

Police investigators, explosive ordnance disposal experts and army personnel boarded on Friday afternoon a pair of small rubber boats to head to the ship, grounded on a small island off Coron.

Nearby, a covered basketball court served as a staging area for social workers and security personnel, while police tape cordoned the area off from members of the public.

Myra Cabilan told AFP she had flown to Coron to find her missing brother, 40-year-old Rammel Gonzaga, who had taken the ferry from Manila on a business trip with his brother-in-law.

"His wife had just given birth a month ago. He was so happy he was given a daughter," Cabilan said, fighting back tears.

"At dawn, I still believed he survived. But he's still missing. I have lost hope."

Hundreds of people desperate for news about the incident have taken to leaving comments on the Facebook page of a local mayor, searching for relatives, friends and even a dog.

The ferry's manifest listed 134 crew and passengers, but two had not boarded, according to the coast guard. The ferry was also carrying goods, an electric vehicle, a pickup truck, and motorcycles.

The archipelago nation of 116 million has a long history of disasters involving the inter-island ferries that ply its seas.

Many rely on cheap and poorly regulated boats and ships for transport between the country's more than 7,000 islands, despite regular accidents.

In January, a triple-decker ferry carrying more than 340 people sank off the southern Philippines, killing at least 52 people.

The M/V Trisha Kerstin 3 sank along nearly the same route where 31 people died in 2023 after a fire broke out aboard the Lady Mary Joy 3 ferry.

On Thursday, the company that owns the M/V June Aster, Atienza Interisland Ferries Inc, said it was fully cooperating with the investigation.

C.Dean--TFWP