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Rescuers Board Burning Philippine Ferry 40 Hours After Fire

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Philippine crews boarded the fire-gutted MV June Aster on Friday. Five dead, 43 rescued and 84 still missing after the Manila-to-Coron blaze.

Philippine rescuers climbed aboard the burnt-out hulk of the MV June Aster on Friday, more than 40 hours after a fire tore through the passenger-cargo ferry as it neared the end of a voyage from Manila. Crews reached the vessel at about 11:30 local time (03:30 GMT), the Philippine Coast Guard said, forcing their way past smoke that was still rising from the wreck.

Five people have been confirmed dead and 43 have been pulled to safety, many of them now under hospital care. Another 84 passengers remain unaccounted for. The ferry had left the capital and was closing in on the island of Coron, in Palawan province, when flames broke out on Wednesday evening.

Reaching the hull proved dangerous from the moment operations began on Wednesday. Coast guard spokeswoman Noemie Cayabyab said searing heat and poisonous fumes kept teams off the ship for hours. "The biggest challenge for us really is to penetrate the ship [as] there is still a visible, thick smoke," she told the BBC. "No matter how we try to push through, high temperatures and toxic smoke remain a severe risk to our personnel," she told local media. Fires that burn without enough oxygen throw off heavy loads of carbon monoxide, a gas that can kill quickly.

Images released by the coast guard on Friday morning showed smoke twisting up from the ferry, though later pictures taken that afternoon suggested the plumes had eased. The maritime agency said it would restart firefighting from the cargo hold, the storage compartment for containers and freight. Early accounts from survivors point to that same section as where the blaze first took hold. Investigators also noted that some passengers had not been wearing life vests.

The missing count was revised down from 86 to 84 after officials determined that two people listed on the ship's manifest never actually boarded. Search crews have since expanded the area they are combing. The coast guard has sent out one of its largest ships, broadcast radio appeals to nearby vessels and flown an aerial sweep over the surrounding waters. Divers and nurses are working alongside the search parties. In Coron, a local diver told the BBC his team was ready to assist and waiting for word from the coast guard.

One survivor described the chaos that gripped the vessel as the fire spread. Roland Lerma, 30, said he was knocked to the deck as passengers rushed for the exits. "When I was on the floor, people were trampling me," he told the BBC. He crawled until he could stand, then threw himself overboard. In the dark, he made out children who had also leapt into the water but could not see their faces. "It was cold [in the sea] If the rescue had been delayed, I would definitely have died," he said.

The Philippines' maritime authority is examining what caused the disaster.

MV June Aster, Philippine ferry fire, Philippine Coast Guard, Coron Palawan, Manila ferry disaster, ferry rescue Philippines, Roland Lerma, maritime accident

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