Three passengers, including an infant and a senior citizen, were killed while over 200 passengers were rescued from a ferry that caught fire off Dapitan City at dawn yesterday, the Philippine Coast Guard said.
MV Lite Ferry 16 was approximately 1.5 nautical miles away from the Palauan Port in Dapitan City, its reported destination, when it caught fire.
Two of the fatalities were identified as Chloe Labisig, 1, and Danilo Gomez Sr., 60. The Coast Guard has yet to identify the third fatality.
Labisig and Gomez were unconscious when found by rescuers but they were eventually declared dead.
Two-hundred forty-five persons were rescued as of noon Wednesday, Capt. Armand Balilo, Coast Guard spokesperson, said.
The PCG said MV Lite Ferry 16 was carrying more than 245 passengers but only 137 passengers were listed in the manifesto. The ferry had 36 crew members.
“Initial information showed that the fire started from the engine but we will verify after the rescue,” Balilo said as search and rescue operation was ongoing.
Balilo bared that a passenger of the ferry was able to report the incident to the PCG Operations Center at 12:28 a.m., saying that the vessel was on fire off Pulauan Port. It departed Port of Samboan in Santander, Cebu at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
The ferry can carry 280 passengers. Based on the manifesto, it was carrying 109 adults, 24 children, and four infants but it turned out that the passengers onboard the ferry was more than that as 245 persons have been rescued since the fire broke out. (Betheena Kae Unite and Calvin Cordova)
