76 Dead in Philippine Ferry Fire, One of Year’s Worst Sea Tragedies - Newsweek

At least 76 people were killed when a passenger ferry caught fire in the Philippines, authorities said Saturday, in one of the world's deadliest maritime disasters this year.

The tragedy follows major ferry disasters in Zimbabwe and Guyana earlier this year, including a capsize on Lake Kariba that killed at least 94 people and the sinking of the MV Barima off Guyana's coast which is estimated to have killed around 100 people.

Newsweek has reached out to the Philippine Coast Guard and Maritime Industry Authority for comment via email on Saturday.

The MV June Aster was carrying 132 people when it caught fire Wednesday night, near the end of a 20-hour voyage from Manila to Coron in Palawan province. The ferry was about 24 miles from its destination when the blaze broke out.

Authorities said survivors reported hearing an explosion before smoke and flames rapidly engulfed the vessel. Investigators have not yet determined what caused the fire and a maritime safety and criminal investigation will be underway. Philippine authorities have been recovering remains from the burned-out vessel over the past few days, with forensic teams working to identify victims.

Philippine Coast Guard 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, according to Reuters.

There are 43 recorded survivors as of Saturday. The Coast Guard said the captain is reportedly alive although not listed among the survivors.

Ferry travel is a crucial mode of transportation in the Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,600 islands where many communities are accessible only by sea.

A government-owned ferry carrying about 180 passengers capsized on Zimbabwe's Lake Kariba in August, killing at least 94 people in what state media described as the country's deadliest transportation disaster.

"When the boat capsized, most of the people scrambled to get the life jackets but most of them did not even know how to use them," Chance Siyamavhu, a 45-year-old survivor, told AFP. "Most people could not make it."

He added: "Our relatives were swept in another direction and they sank because we were not in a position to help them."

Authorities said the vessel was traveling from Kariba to a remote lakeside community when it encountered strong waves and overturned. Officials later said the ferry, which had a capacity of 90 passengers, was carrying roughly twice that number, Reuters reported.

In July, the MV Barima, an 87-year-old state-run ferry, capsized off the coast of Guyana, leaving an estimated 100 people dead after additional bodies were recovered from the wreck. At least 69 people were rescued.

Authorities said the ferry overturned with 179 people on board while traveling from Georgetown to the northwestern community of Port Kaituma. The disaster prompted questions about the vessel's passenger manifest, which had listed 116 passengers and 17 crew, and whether crew actions contributed to the sinking.

Helena Moonsammy, one of the survivors who lost four of her grandchildren in the disaster, told the Associated Press: “I was fighting for my life. The boat sunk in minutes, seconds." She continued, “I told my grandbabies to cling on to anything as I hollered for them. I prayed all night and was in the water for nine hours.”

In August, at least five people were killed and dozens more were reported missing after the Mutiara Sentosa 2 ferry caught fire off Indonesia while carrying 271 people and 181 vehicles. The vessel was en route from Surabaya, on Java, to Makassar, on Sulawesi, when the blaze broke out before dawn, prompting a large-scale rescue operation that saved about 230 passengers.

Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands where ferries serve as a vital mode of transportation.

In late-August, at least eight people were killed and about 20 others were reported missing after a passenger ferry carrying 267 people capsized shortly after departing Kyrenia on a route to Turkey.

Survivors were rescued by nearby vessels and coast guard crews after the ship overturned in the Mediterranean.

Authorities launched a large search-and-rescue effort and later brought in specialized equipment to locate the wreck, which sank in waters more than 1,640 feet deep, according to the New York Post.

Among those who were unaccounted for was a 12-year-old girl and her six-year-old brother.

“My daughter slipped from my grasp. She was holding my hand. The suitcase fell, she slipped from my hand,” Ayten Bicer, their mother, told Turkey’s DHA news agency.

Another ferry passenger, Serkan Kunduraci, told the outlet, “I saw some who didn’t know how to swim die in the sea."

He added, “There were those who, in a panic, didn’t grab life jackets. Some jumped (into the sea) immediately out of fear. There was an old man, we couldn’t get him. We tried to pull him up, but we couldn’t. He drowned, too. We saw and witnessed a family’s children, boys and girls, very young children, drowning.”

Contact Newsweek editors for this story: Hollie Silverman and Anthony Murray.