Five crew members of a motorboat were killed while four others were hurt following a fire that hit their vessel in Zamboanga City Monday night.
Lt. Cmdr. Alvin Dagalea, the commander of the Coast Guard Station in Zamboanga City, said a fire hit the ML Satellite at the seaside of Bengo Wharf, Zamboanga City, at about 8:20 p.m. Monday.
Dagalea said the names of the fatalities have yet to be identified as of press time.
Dagalea said that base on initial reports he received, an explosion first happened at the said motorboat triggering the fire.
“Right now an investigation is being conducted to determine the cause of the explosion,” said Dagalea.
When asked if terrorism has something to do with the incident, Dagalea said they cannot make any comment pending the result of the probe.
He added that the motorboat has no passengers when the explosion happened while it was preparing to travel to Jolo.
The bodies of the fatalities were retrieved Tuesday morning and brought to their respective families. Three others crew members were left unhurt while the four injured were brought to a hospital after sustaning burns in parts of their bodies. (Francis T. Wakefield)