At least 18 killed after ferry carrying over 350 sinks in southern Philippines; several missing

At least 18 people were killed, while 24 were missing, after a ferry with more than 350 people onboard sank in the southern Philippines on Monday (Jan 26), the coast guard said. The MV Trisha Kerstin 3 issued a distress signal around 1:50 am, over four hours after leaving the Port of Zamboanga City on the southwestern tip of Mindanao. Meanwhile, officials said that more than 300 people have been rescued.

“A coast guard aircraft is also on the way to help the operation. The Navy and Air Force also sent their assets,” Romel Dua, a coast guard commander, told AFP.

The incident happened about 5 km east of Baluk-Baluk Island, which is a part of the Basilan province chain of islands off the Zamboanga peninsula. Basilan emergency responder Ronalyn Perez said that the rescuers were struggling to handle the sudden influx of survivors.

“The challenge really is the number of patients that are coming in. We are short-staffed at the moment,” Perez said, adding that at least 18 were moved to a local hospital.

“We cannot say for now the reason of the sinking, but we were instructed to conduct a marine casualty investigation to determine the cause,” Dua said. In the statement, the coast guard noted that the ferry had not been overloaded.

“As of now, we are focused on the rescue,” He added that the survivors were brought to the coast guard stations in Zamboanga and Isabela City.

In a video shared on social media, survivors can be heard shouting for help in the dark.

The archipelago nation, home to about 116 million people, has a long history of such incidents involving the inter-island ferries. The boats and ships serve as a primary transport between the country’s 7,000 islands, despite their poor regulation and frequent accidents. Earlier in 2023, a fire erupted on a ferry in the southern Philippines, killing more than 30 people.